Earth Bound
by ghosthead8503
Summary: OVERHAULED Attempt at an EBZero adaptation. I hope it's better than before... Again, please enjoy & R&R. "T"-rating to be safe.
1. Amityville Revisited

_(As usual, I'm only saying this once, so listen up and listen well…)_

**LEGAL DISCLAIMERS**

_- I do not, nor have I ever, owned the rights to the video game, __Mother__, or its unreleased English Language prototype, __Earth Bound__, from which this fan fiction is based. To my legal knowledge, the game, and its content, though out of print, are both, to this day, legally owned by their respective owners, Shigesato Itoi, APE Software, Nintendo of Japan, and Nintendo of America. All other properties, not in the public domain, that are mentioned in this fan fiction rightfully belong to their individual copyright holders and are mentioned entirely for reference purposes._

_- __Earth Bound__ is a work of complete fiction. Names, characters, places, and situations are products of either the original staff's imagination or that of my own. Any similarities to actual events, locations, and/or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental._

_- The views expressed in this fan fiction do not necessarily represent the overall views of the author._

* * *

><p><strong>I<strong>

_Amityville Revisited_

The Year - 1907...

The Place - Podunk, USA - a small, rural country hamlet in the middle of America, seemingly untouched by the nationwide industrialization from merely thirty-to-forty years prior. While the town has its share of the newest modern commodities, it was still a town where you didn't have to lock your doors at night and everyone still knew everyone by their first name - even though such practices were more common during that era, Podunk still had the innocence that they thought the bigger cities around them were slowly losing.

One seemingly ordinary evening, one like any other, a young man in his mid-to-late 20's sits on his front porch, dressed in the fashions of the era, although they were worn discretely "loosened" for comfort, reading the latest copy of The Podunk Press, the town's local weekly newspaper, as the victrola in the corner of the parlor plays "In My Merry Oldsmobile" just low enough to be heard outside and not have the local sheriff come by and charge them with disturbing the peace, even though most of their neighbors were doing the exact same thing themselves this mildly humid midsummer's night.

Momentarily, he looks up from his newspaper to see his young wife walk outside to join him in her favorite white pouter pigeon blouse and black skirt; her hair was still tied into a bun that she tried in vain to keep in a Gibson Girl hairstyle, (in an era before hairspray). It was obvious to George she was still in her corset (all you had to do was look at her once while she was wearing it and you'd never easily forget it.) Smiling, he instinctively stands to greet her until she takes a seat in the chair adjacent to his as she continues where she left off in her copy of Hudson's Green Mansions. She's tired, but still she manages in her treasured evening routine. Lately, this was the only time she really had that she could spend her husband, just the two of them, since the baby was born. While he worked all day as the local newspaper's editor-in-chief, what time she didn't have that was consumed tending to their newborn baby's needs, she spent giving piano lessons to the town's youth. A brief, yet common moment of silence passes between the two.

Though the couple has only been married for little more than a year after a five year courtship, the spark between them (behind closed doors) was still as fresh as it was on the night of their honeymoon.

"I finally got the little one to sleep." Maria said, while trying to hide the yawn in her angelic voice.

"He's been quite a handful lately, hasn't he, Dear."

"I know, Darling." she wearily told George, "But I'm sure he'll grow out of it. He's just a baby, after all."

That night, however, the young woman felt an uncomfortable breeze builds up around her.

"George?" she asks.

"Yes, Dear?" her husband worriedly replies. He knew all too well that she would never refer to him by his given name, especially in private, unless something was bothering her. Unless she was mad at him, it was either 'Darling' or (if she was _really_ in a good mood) "Sweetheart."

"Is it just me, or is it getting too dark all of a sudden?" Even though it was summertime, and the days were usually longer, it was almost getting too dark for this time of year at this time of night - it was hardly 8:00...

Putting down his newspaper for a second time that evening, George looks around, "You know, I think it is." Compelled to get up, he notices something strange in the distance. "That's odd." he said, with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"What is?"

"Look." George said, pointing up towards the distant Mt. Itoi, the tallest mountain in a small range near the bustling city of Ellay that was so massive, you could clearly see its peak from as far as Podunk, though it was at least a couple thousand miles away.

"What is that?" Maria asks, noticing a dark cloud forming near the mountain's peak - one dark enough to be seen in the darkest of midnight skies. Before they knew what hit them, there was a bright flash of light as the couple disappeared into thin air.

News of the disappearance spread quickly through the small country town, however it was kept quiet from outside news sources. As a whole, they didn't want the kind of publicity a story like this would bring, even if they were both highly respected citizens of the community, so finding out _what_ happened was a high priority. As one prayer vigil after another was held night after night, praying for their safe return, over time, however, the town came to accept that something had happened; what? They didn't know - it was also decided that it'd be a wise idea not to ask too many questions about the incident. Since then, the couple's young son was placed in the custody of George's brother and sister-in-law, who'd moved back to Podunk from Merrysville so he could fill his brother George's "vacated" position as editor of the local newspaper, while his wife became one of the town's lower elementary schoolteachers.

Two years to the day this 'incident' occurred, a strange, yet familiar figure walked into town in a complete daze. The stunned townspeople immediately recognized him as George, the young newlywed that had disappeared two years ago.

When asked about his wife, Maria, he wouldn't tell them anything, not even his own remaining family, what had happened to him or where he had been, almost like he couldn't, or refused to remember any of the details. He was also a shell of his former self - what was once a kind, easygoing gentleman was now a harsh and, basically, curmudgeonly old grouch. While all the town's people knew was that he was back, and Maria wasn't, and though public opinion was against him, no formal charges were pursued due to overall lack of evidence.

Forced into a self-imposed exile, George never remarried, choosing to spend the rest of his life studying the science of parapsychology, focusing his attention primarily on the subject of, what would later be known as, PSI - a catch-all term used to categorize the phenomena of ESP and psychokinesis.

Spending most of the later part of his life "abroad", he died alone and estranged from his remaining family members, who considered him to be growing crazier by the day, of natural, yet mysterious and sudden causes. He was buried where he died, at the top of Mt. Itoi with little to no fan fair - hardly anyone showed up to see the old man off. To this day, however, no one knows whatever happened to Maria, and the incident has long since faded from memory…

Fast forward to the year 1989, where a young, seemingly ordinary, twelve year-old, All-American pre-teenaged boy named Ken sits in his bedroom playing the Nintendo NES his dad got him for Christmas last year - one of the only few times his father was ever around in the physical sense of the word for longer than a day. True, he didn't bare any ill will towards his father, but Ken naturally wished he was around more often. His parents weren't divorced, or anything, but his job as a businessman kept him away far too often, leaving Ken as _pro tem_ man of the house. Struggling to make it past the Death Mountain area of (The Legend of) Zelda II - The Adventures of Link, the picture on his TV screen started to become distorted, ruining Ken's game, and his afternoon, in the process as it finally gave out in a statically, snowy haze.

"Son of a bitch!" Ken curses, tossing the controller to the floor, cursing further as he reverts to some old tried and true methods of TV repair. Pounding the old set's side with little result (which normally worked,) "First the Braves beat the Giants by one run, and now this! What else can go wrong?"

Suddenly, Ken felt the house starting to shake. "I had to ask!" Ken said, as the room shook about. When it finally died down a little, "An earthquake?" Ken thought, "Earthquakes don't happen here! We're in the middle of nowhere!" With that, the shaking started again, worse than before. The problem was intensified when his lucky baseball - the one signed by Shigeo Nagashima he got when his dad took the family to Japan for a vacation/business trip - instead of simply falling to the floor off its shelf, flew across the room, narrowly missing its human target as it slammed against the wall.

"This is too weird." Ken said, as he was trying to get out of his room, forgetting that he'd locked the door - like any older brother, he'd do _anything_ to keep the twins, his sisters - Minnie (who he jokingly referred to as "Mini" - even though they were identical, she was, somehow, almost a quarter inch shorter than her sister…) and Mimi (which was "_mistakenly"_ spelled "Mimmie" on her birth certificate) out of his room - he'd already lost valuable seconds trying to undo the broken latch.

Finally grabbing hold of the doorknob, ready to escape the "Bedroom From Hell", Ken felt an electrical cord wrap around his neck, constricting tighter as he struggled to loosen its grip.

Struggling to break free from the cord's grip, as he was somehow lifted into the air, Ken was shocked to see the source of the strangling power cord - the table lamp he had kept on his nightstand had somehow come to life, and the look on the small piece of electrical furniture's new face told Ken that this lamp was hungry for human flesh, and it turned out _he_ was on the menu.

Naturally, Ken wasn't going to be eaten without a fight. As the cord continued to wrap around his body, Ken continued struggling, though it appeared to be in vain - the creature that had possessed his lamp continued drawing the boy towards its gaping maw.

Able to get his foot free, Ken managed to kick the beastly table lamp enough to make it recoil, breaking its grip on the boy. Falling to the floor, Ken recovered his composure as the lamp attacked head on, attempting to latch itself onto his neck. Narrowly escaping, Ken made it to the other end of the bedroom where his prized baseball landed. Throwing caution to the wind, he wound up and pitched the ball toward the lamp, shattering it with one lucky strike. (Naturally, he was a talented ball player, he was _hardly_ a pitcher.)

Cautiously approaching the lamp's remains, all Ken could see was a lamp shade, various glass and clay fragments, and random pieces of electrical wire - it was apparent that whatever had possessed it had left.

Suddenly, the earthquake started to get worse as the house started shaking to its core. Hearing a loud scream coming from outside his room, only one thought came to mind as Ken immediately recognized its source - "Mini!"

Making it into the hallway, Ken was more than shocked to see the hall in a complete disarray - a dark, slime like substance covered the walls, pictures were altered, revealing more demonic scenery, and the tabletop décor that aligned the walls were floating all over the room.

Getting a grip on himself, Ken barged into Mini's room to find her cornered, as _her_ table lamp, warped by the same demon that had once possessed his, was menacingly inching closer to her, jaws wide open for a free, fleshy meal.

"Ken, help me!" Minnie cried, "I'm scared! My lamp seems to be alive!"

"Hey!" Ken yelled, "Leave my sister alone!"

The possessed lamp turns its attention away from the little girl to focus on Ken. Growling angrily, it rammed itself into its new target as Ken fell back on impact, caught off guard by the assaulting light fixture. Winded, Ken got up as the lamp started using its cord as a whip, lashing into Ken. On the whip's third strike, Ken got lucky and caught the electrical whipcord's business end, wrapping it around his wrist. Before the lamp could take advantage of this seemingly 'foolish' action, Ken swung the lamp between the wall and the floor, finally shattering the lamp as the demon went on to possess another target.

"Oh my!" Minnie cried, after the fiasco was over, "Ken, our house is falling apart!"

"Don't worry, Mini." Ken says, trying to sooth his crying little sister. Unfortunately, another ear-splitting scream came from next door - Minnie's twin sister Mimi was also in trouble!

"Won't that thing ever give up?" Ken asks himself as he races to his other sister's bedroom to check up on her.

Barging in, Ken saw Mimi was worse off than anyone else - her favorite baby doll was holding her hostage.

"Help me!" Mimi cried.

"Hey, you!" Ken cried, going back into full 'big brother mode' as the doll turned around midair. With an otherworldly scowl on its painted face, the doll flew towards Ken, latching onto his throat. Successfully prying the doll away, Ken was lucky that it didn't draw any blood. Letting the doll get close again, Ken abruptly grabbed it by the legs…

"Get - the - Hell - out - of - my - HOUSE!" he yelled as he continuously bashed the doll against the bedroom's hardwood floor (aside from the occasional rug, the house wasn't carpeted.) the doll broke apart as the house stopped shaking. Whatever was happening to the house had somehow stopped - at least for the moment.

"Oh, Ken!" Mimi said, latching onto her older brother, "I was scared to death!"

"It's alright, Mimi." Ken said, soothing her, "It's over."

Releasing her grip on her older brother, Mimi noticed something in her old doll.

"Oh, wow!" she said, amazed, "Ken, check this out."

"What is it?"

"Look!" Mimi replies, showing Ken an old, miniature wind-up music box.

As the handle started to crank on its own, the box began playing its song…

…_~"Take A Melody"~…_

However, the music box's age had degraded the song to only a few short notes before it finally gave out.

"Ken, here's some soda." Mimi said, giving him the last of her orange soda, "You are thirsty, aren't you?"

Slightly worn out from his fight with the doll and both lamps, Ken gladly took it. Heading downstairs, their mother instantly got up from her chair and engulfed her son in a worried, bone-crushing embrace.

"Ken, are you alright?" she worriedly asks.

"I'm fine, Mom." Ken replied, struggling to catch his breath.

"Egad! What's happening to our house?" she asks, "I wish your father was here now. Maybe…"

As if on cue, the phone started to ring.

"Oh, that phone! Of all times…" his mother says, "Please get it, Ken."

Doing as told, Ken grabbed the receiver.

"Hello? Walters residence. Ken speaking." he says, using the "parental imposed" telephone greeting he despises with a heated passion - however, now was _not_ the time to quarrel over such petty issues.

"Ken? This is your father."

"Dad! You're not gonna believe what's going on." Ken replies as he starts to explain what had been happening over the last hour.

"Well…" his father paused; he had hoped this day wouldn't come, "It seems like a poltergeist."

"A what?" Ken asked, not believing his ears.

"I'm not exactly sure how to…" his father continued, hesitating, "but your Great-Grandfather studied PSI. You might find something in his diary that'll help."

"Where is it?"

"I think it's somewhere in the basement."

"But, Dad…" Ken replied, prepared to state the obvious.

"Yes, I know, the basement's locked. I left the key somewhere… …I just don't remember exactly where…"

"Oh, Dad…" Ken muttered under his breath, hoping the phone wouldn't pick that last little bit.

"Anyway, son…" his father said, pausing before he threw the curve ball at his son straight from left field, "you're this world's only hope!"

"What?" Ken asked, caught off guard.

"It's time for you to go on a little adventure" his father continued, "and explore the potential of your powers."

"My powers?" Ken asked, confused. He knew he could read minds and make small things float around, and stuff like that. But since he started school, his parents have been making him do it only when he was at home, if at all. In fact, the last time he made anything float in midair was when he was entertaining the twins by making one of their teddy bears dance to stop them from crying - and they both couldn't have been more than a year old!

Talking to his father over the phone, Ken failed to see the tears build up in his mother's eyes. She'd always known this day would come since she first saw Ken floating and bending spoons halfway across the room from his high chair, and since then she's been dreading it would come down to this. Sure, she'd always known her baby would leave home some day, but she never expected it'd be like this, or so soon.

After the "spoon incident," her husband finally told her what his parents told him about his grandfather, about what he had kept secret from the world, about his Grandpa George, and about what he'd been doing until the day he died… and when one of his descendents finally developed these type of powers, something devastating would be on the horizon and that he or she would be this world's only hope for survival… She'll admit, when the preacher said, "…for better or for worse…" this wasn't what she had in mind.

"Yes, powers!" his father continued, "Powers not to be taken lightly."

"But…" Ken started to protest.

"Ken, go for it!" his father interrupted him before he could protest, "But remember to call home from time-to-time and check in on our family."

"Dad!" Ken yelled into the receiver before hearing a dial tone. Softly hanging up, he walked to the door. "Mom, I'm going outside for a little while. I think I need some fresh air." Stepping outside, the family dog approached him, laying its head on Ken's leg as he sat down on an old bench on his family's front porch.

"Hey, Mack." Ken said, petting the old, graying golden retriever's head, almost forgetting all that's happened today.

"I'll tell you a secret if you keep scratching me behind my ear like that." Ken heard.

"You say something, boy?" Ken asked. There was no one else was around there that could talk. But after all that's been going on today, anything could happen.

"I was wondering when you'd finally listen, again." Ken heard.

"Oh, right. I forgot…" he replied, "my telepathy." Up until he was told otherwise, he was the only one who really understood the family dog. Doing as requested, Ken finally asked, "Now what is it you wanted to tell me?"

"I heard you're looking for that metal thing that opens that gate leading down into that hole in your pack's den." the dog replies.

"The key to the basement? How do you know about that?" Ken asked.

"I have my ways." Mack smugly replied, "Why don't you check my collar?"

"Sure, why not?" Ken asks, "What've I got to lose?" Doing so, Ken finds something that'd be considered strange to be placed on a dog's collar. "What's this?" he asked, "The key to the basement? Where'd you find this?" He asked, before saying, "Forget it, Mack! I probably don't want to know."

"Suit yourself, Pup." Mack said, doing what, when coming from a dog, could be interrupted as shrugging his shoulders. Then, sharply turning his head, "Hey! Squirrel!" Mack said, before giving chase and barking up a storm as Ken couldn't help but laugh at his old hound, who sometimes was still a pup at heart.

Going back inside, Ken used the key to open the basement door. Inside, the lights were barely working, but Ken found what he was looking for - his Great-Grandfather's old diary. Before leaving the dark, dank cellar, he found his old plastic PlaySkool/Fisher Price baseball bat. "Well, if I'm going on a journey," Ken thought, "I guess I'll need some kind of protection."

Returning from the basement, Ken saw his mother sitting in the living room, crying as she looked over an old photo album.

"Mom?" Ken asked, braking her from her crying spell.

"Ken, *sniff* you're braver than I thought." she said, "I can't let you go on a journey so famished. I'll grill you some of my special steaks. Eat your dinner and run off to bed, young man."

No matter what anyone else would ever tell him - in his mind, the way his mother grilled steaks were worth dying for. He just hoped that, after he left, that analogy wouldn't be taking on a new, more literal meaning.

Waking up bright and early the next morning, Ken got dressed and stuffed some spare clothing into his backpack - taking special care when handling his more meaningless, yet highly prized processions - his Tokyo Giants ticket stubs, his autographed baseball, one of the spoons he bent as a toddler, his stuffed penguin (don't ask…), and the aged photograph of his Great-Grandmother, Maria, which had the most sentimental value to him. He was always told that, even though she'd disappeared, if he kept that photo with him, her spirit would always be watching over him. Right now, he felt he could use all the spiritual protection he could get. Donning his blood red, tiger striped bandana, tying it around his neck and wearing it like a silver screen cowboy would wear his in an old 1940's B-Western, and his favorite (some would say trademark) baseball cap, Ken headed downstairs to be greeted by the smell of his favorite breakfast - omelets.

"Whenever you want to eat any of my steaks and omelets, just come on home." his mother said as Ken walked to the door. Stopping before turning the doorknob, he turned away, and with tears in his eyes, ran and hugged his mother for what may be the final time.

"I'll miss you." Ken said, trying in vain to keep from crying. (Deep down, he always was a momma's boy…)

"I know, Ken." his mother replied. Looking down at him after releasing him, she dried his tearing eyes. "Remember." she said, "No matter where you go, or whatever happens, I will always love you, and I will always be waiting." Kissing him, she continued, "Now, go. Or you'll never be able to leave."

Everything inside Ken made him want to stay, namely his sense of logic. He kept asking himself, "Who in their right mind would send their barely teenaged son out into the world all alone?" Still, whatever was calling him to leave was getting stronger by the second - whatever it was, something devastating was coming to conquer this world, and somehow he was probably the only one that could stop it…


	2. Day of the Not So Living Dead

**II**

_Day of the (Not So) Living Dead_

Leaving home, taking the main road into the greater part of Podunk, Ken was hoping that he'd find some answers to his nagging questions while he was being careful to avoid crossing "Ol' Crazy Wally's" land - that senile old farmer would sic his dog on anything that moved across his real estate without his consent. That is, if his shotgun didn't get you first. All Ken really had to worry about, though, were the various rats, crows, and snakes that roamed around the area, which were almost too easy to avoid.

Approaching the outskirts of the little country town, Ken saw one of his neighbors was frantically crying outside her house. He only knew her as Ms. Langstrom, though she and Ken's family were never formally acquainted - Podunk wasn't as intimate and innocent as it was fifty years ago.

"Is something wrong, ma'am?" Ken asks.

"Oh, *sniff* what can I do?" Ms. Langstrom asks in between tears, "What _should_ I do? Where can I go? Who can I _see_? What should I do? What should I do? My little Pippi has gone missing." she said, as she started bawling even harder than before.

"Who's Pippi?" Ken asks.

"Pippi's my darling little daughter." she replies, "Young man, if you're going to Podunk, please tell the Mayor. Oh me… Oh my…"

"The Mayor?" Ken asks, bewildered. From what he had heard about the Mayor… well, common opinion around town, that he'd 'overheard', of course, made it obviously that there were far better men and women equipped to handle the job than what Podunk already had in office. "Don't worry, Ma'am." Ken said, regardless, "I'll tell him as soon as I get there."

"Oh, thank you, young man." the woman replies, "I sure hope they find her… She's all I have left…"

Vaguely, Ken could remember his parents talking about what she meant… about six years ago, Ms. Langstrom found out her husband had been carrying out an illicit affair with an office clerk from a nearby town when the county morgue called and asked her to identify his body. It turned out that the other woman's husband had stormed into their motel room and killed them both in a jealous rage before taking his own life…

Anyway, arriving in downtown Podunk, Ken was "unintentionally" using his telepathy to listen in on people's thoughts and conversations (something he liked to do from time-to-time, especially when he was bored…) about zombies and ghosts that were running loose in that abandoned cemetery outside of town.

When Ken entered City Hall, which also shared its roof with the local police and fire departments, with the city hospital sitting right across the street, he managed to sneak into the building, using his telepathy to cloud his presence as he slipped into the Mayor's office undetected.

"Citizen, I know you'd like to help the town…" the Mayor said, talking over the phone while his secretary sits patiently on his lap, both ignorantly unaware of Ken's presence. "…I assure you that the only way you can help is to leave the dangerous work to the professionals!" Hanging up, the Mayor asks his sultry assistant, "Now… where were we?"

"Uh, excuse me… I didn't know you were busy." Ken asks, getting the Mayor's attention as the lustful politician hastily drops his assistant to the floor, "I'll come back some other time."

"What in God's name…!" the Mayor blurted out, before realizing he was speaking to some kid, "Uh… *clears throat* How may I help you young man?"

"Uh…" Ken replies, thinking about _how_ he should approach such a local dignitary, "…one of my neighbor's kids has gone missing."

"Sorry, kid." the Mayor replied, "I don't have time to bother with such issues."

"Her mother said she'd vote for you in the next election if her little girl's returned to her." Ken added, finally catching the Mayor's attention.

"A voter?" the Mayor asked, "Well, that's a horse of a different color. I have heard rumors of a child who's wandered off into the cemetery. And with all those zombies running loose… and I am up for re-election soon…" Then, turning his full attention to Ken, "You must help save her!"

"ME!" Ken replied, caught off guard. One psychic power he _didn't _have was foretelling the future. "Didn't you just tell me that…"

"Look, son!" the Mayor interrupted Ken, getting stern and impatient, "I have the police chief and the entire Podunk police force on stand by right now for a possible zombie apocalypse, and they're already busy chasing down and catching wild animals that're running loose around town, so I can't have them go out and look for some lost little girl!"

"But…" Ken started to argue, but (reading the Mayor's one-track mind) he figured it'd be useless - using his telepathy to sway this windbag would be nothing short of attempted homicide… the Mayor's poor little, pea sized brain couldn't handle the shock. "Alright…" Ken sighed, defeated, "I'll go into the cemetery and look for her."

"Oh? You'll go and save her?" the Mayor asks, no longer on his pitiful crocodile tear crying jag, "Return her to me, and I will be a hero…" Then, he caught himself, "Er, um, I mean _you'll_ be a hero. *ha ha*"

Rolling his eyes, Ken left the Mayor's office, telling himself that, whenever he got old enough to vote, to vote Republican…

Heading to the other end of town, Ken decided to buy some better weaponry - if there really were zombies running loose like the townspeople were fearing, then he'd need something better than a old toy bat.

In the local strip mall, Ken's first stop was a small sporting goods store. Inside, they were selling a wooden bat, which was sure to provide a bigger punch. Too bad Ken couldn't afford it. Disappointed, he passed by the pet store, but all Ken saw was a store full of empty cages and displays.

"Look for yourself, kid." the clerk said, as he was closing up, "all the animals have escaped. All we have left is this canary chick. Would you want that?"

"How much?" Ken asked.

"$8.50?" the clerk responded, desperate.

"Well…" Ken thought. Since he'd be gone for a while, money was too important to waste, "I'm sorry." Ken replied.

"Well, if it was free, would you want it then?"

"Yeah, if it was free…"

"Sold!" the store clerk said, handing him the chick, "Just, please, take it!"

Looking at the canary, Ken didn't see anything wrong with it; physically, anyway. Besides, Ken thought it'd be nice for the little Tweety Bird to keep him company while he was on this little trip.

Before leaving, Ken's telepathy kicked in, hearing the clerk mentally say to himself, "I've never seen anything like this, before! I think something's controlling the animals…" Though suspicious, Ken let that mental comment slide, at least for the time being.

Wandering around the mall, Ken finally asked the little bird, "So, what's your story?"

"I was taken away from my Mommy…" the canary replied, with a great amount of sorrow in its voice, almost as if it was crying. "You're not going to eat me, are you?"

"Of course not!" Ken replied, "Where's your mom located?"

"Someplace the older canaries called 'Canary Village.'"

"Canary Village… I'm afraid I don't know where that is…" Ken said, thinking, "But I'll help you make it back there."

"You will?" the canary joyfully replied, "Oh, thank you! I never knew humans could be so kind!" sensing Ken was speaking with an honest heart, truly meaning what he'd said.

"Some of us are…" Ken replied, before explaining, "But I already promised someone else I'd look for their missing child. But I promise, as soon as I find her and bring her back to _her_ mother, I'll help you return to your's."

Hopping up onto Ken's ball cap, the little bird replied, "Lead the way."

Ken chuckled at the little bird's enthusiasm. Still, he'd heard his mother say that he'd always had a way with children, but he doubts she was also referring to the animal variety.

Heading to one of his usual hang outs at a local diner, the clerk immediately recognized the young patron.

"Hello, Ken." the waitress at the cash register cheerfully said, kindly greeting one of her regulars.

"Hi, Ms. Perkins." Ken replied.

"Thing's going well?" she asked.

"I'm doing fine, ma'am. Thank you."

"Oh, before I fix you your usual, young man, your mother called - she wanted you to call your dad when, and _if_, you stopped by."

Being allowed to use the phone in the waitress' private office, (she was also the diner's owner and their payphone wasn't working. Ken's family was also a wee bit too poor to afford one of those mobile phones he's been hearing about - besides, those things wouldn't work around here, anyway…) he called his father up at the number he was given.

"Dad?" Ken asked, over-curious as to what was up.

"Ken?" his father's stern, yet caring voice echoing in on the other end of the line, "I tried calling you at home, but your mom said that you've already left."

"Yeah, whatcha need?" Ken asks.

"I forgot to tell you earlier that I'll be depositing a little _daily_ stipend into your bank account to use for whenever you'll need it."

"Wow! That's great, Dad!" Ken replies, until evolving pre-teenaged instincts finally kick in, "What's the catch?"

"No catch, Son. All I ask is that you spend it wisely and don't squander it." his father said, "You do have your ATM card with you, don't you?"

"Of course, Dad." Ken replies, thinking he'd just hit the jackpot as he checked his wallet - other than his usual weekly allowance, getting extra money from Dad, other than for his birthday or Christmas, was like trying to get wool from a cow - it was impossible.

"Just… be careful, son." his father said, starting to choke up, before hanging up his end of the phone.

Hanging up the phone, Ken tenderly stroked the canary chick he'd "smuggled" into the diner, "Come on, little guy, let's go get that baseball bat."

Heading into a nearby convenience store, Ken withdrew the money he'd need to buy that wooden baseball bat, with enough left over to buy a common sling shot - for more "distance shooting". Too bad he had to sell his old plastic bat to the clerk at that toy store at the other end of the strip, which took a little bit of "mental convincing" from Ken to make them buy it back. Still, he didn't want to use his "Jedi Mind Trick" too much - he wanted to stay on the Light Side of the Force as much as possible. Besides, he'd heard that some of the girls at school _thought_ he looked somewhat like a young Luke Skywalker - but personally, Ken had always imagined himself being more like Han Solo, piloting the Millennium Falcon across the galaxy…

Heading to the cemetery, Ken was stopped by this man in a long trench coat and fedora who pulled him aside.

"ZOM-BIE!" the man cried, letting the coat fall off and hat fly away to reveal an anorexic, crumbling zombie ready to feed.

Shocked, Ken recoiled, falling backwards as the zombie approached, while Ken kicked back at the undead beast as he struggled to get back on his feet. Scratching into Ken with its claw-like hands, the wound the zombie caused started to draw blood, but Ken still managed to take a good swing at it with his new bat, causing the zombie to recoil, though otherwise unfazed. Scratching at Ken again, his wound started to get worse. But, luckily for him, Ken only needed one arm to swing his bat, and that one wasn't the one with the wound.

Biting into Ken's good hand, almost making him lose his grip on the bat, the toil was becoming a greater strain on the young hero, so he desperately tried one of his powers - one that'd restore vitality in a pinch. Aside from stopping the bleeding and deadening most of the excruciating pain he felt from the flesh-breaking wound, it also gave Ken a little more strength to continue the fight, yet the physical wounds still remained.

Still, with all he had left, Ken swung his bat, defeating the zombie as it shattered into dust, returning from where it came.

Struggling to catch his breath, Ken used another, different type of healing spell - placing his free hand on his wound and concentrating, the wound became healed, leaving no sign of its existence other than the painful memory of how he got it.

"You're not really heading out to the cemetery, are you?" a spectator asked.

"Yes sir, I am." Ken replies.

"And I thought you were a sensible child." the gentleman said, leaving.

Snorting, Ken asked himself, "And where was _he_ when I was fighting Frankenstein?"

Heading to the southernmost boundary of town, Ken finally came to a series of bridges that connected the town of Podunk to the cemetery.

"_**Abandon All Hope,"**_

"_**Ye Who Enter Here!"**_

…a handmade graffiti sign, obviously quoting Dante's Inferno and appearing to have been written in blood, warned, although Ken (some may say foolishly) paid it little if any mind - he was there for a reason, and it was determined to get it done. Besides, the sooner he goes in and grabs the girl, the sooner he could leave this spooky scene.

Along the way, it was getting noticeably darker as the bats that roosted in the area's dead trees started to fly about on their nightly hunt. Some managed to get eerily close to Ken, but none of them really attacked - when they did, one bat in the cloud would get confused in the melee and attack either itself or one of the others in its colony, allowing Ken to make an easy escape through the amusing chaos.

Entering the cemetery's old, rusted wrought iron gates, Ken felt chills running laps up and down his spine, and it wasn't just the cold fog that hung around the graveyard that caused it. Something was wrong, he didn't know what, but he could feel it, and he didn't want to have to stay here any longer than he needed to be.

"Whoever this Pippi girl is, she'd better be worth it…" Ken said to himself, holding his bat like a samurai's katana on the defensive, readying himself for anything that came at him.

He didn't have to wait long, though - the zombie of a gangster's corpse that had died during Prohibition Era approached Ken, as the blind rage it's been feeling since the Roarin' 20's made it decide to take it all out on this young, pre-teenaged, little boy, whether Ken wanted him to or not.

Swinging his bat at the oversized zombie, it shrug it off and laid a powerful punch to Ken's face, knocking him down. Using his bat to get back up, Ken kept swinging, but the decaying mobster was almost too much for the young kid - each blow the zombie gave him seemed to becoming more power with each progressive punch.

Using his vitality restoration spell, which he'd dubbed "LifeUp", Ken was able to continue the fight, dodging the zombie's next attack.

Roaring in anger, it swung at Ken, laughing as he was able to dodge the young man's return blow. As the zombie laughed, Ken saw his opportunity, getting a good final blow - it was almost like when Voltron would finish off a tough Robeast with its Blazing Sword, which caused the zombie to disintegrate into a pile of dust. With a smug smile, Ken rose, and mimicked a victorious samurai seething his katana after slaying his enemy before he continued on his way.

Coming to an old chapel, where the occasional funeral service was held, Ken was able to take a complete rest, recovering what the zombie had taken away. There, he saw a young priest cowering in the corner of the pulpit, having a nervous breakdown.

"I'd like to stop the zombies evil ways, but…" he said, shaking and rocking himself as he sat there, quivering, "they just won't listen to me, or even talk to me… Help me, Father. Please, give me strength. I'm too scared to leave…"

Leaving the priest to his prayer, Ken silently left the chapel. It was obvious that he wouldn't be any help in finding that missing girl.

As he continued to search the cemetery, Ken started crumbling up some old bread he had bought with the last of his money as food for the canary calmly sitting on his shoulder, hoping to use the crumbs in a "Hansel and Gretel"-type fashion. Doing so, he was hoping the area birds (or, in this case, bats) wouldn't eat them the second his back was turned. Still, he gave his little friend its share, so that was one less bird he had to worry about.

Along the way, Ken noticed a desecrated grave marker. Inspecting it further, Ken saw that it was concealing a hidden ladder leading deep underground. Feeling a live presence emanating from underground, Ken knew he had to be close to finding that little girl. If this was the girl he was looking for, he hoped he wasn't too late.

"Stay here, little guy." Ken said to his little canary companion, having it perch on top of the grave stone, where it patiently waited for its caretaker.

"Be careful." Ken heard the canary's chirping plea as he went down into the earth.

Entering the darkened chamber at the end of the corridor, Ken found, what may have been, an abandoned mausoleum, or at least an alternate entrance or exit to the existing one. The room itself was full of caskets, but one of them in particular seemed to be moving, with muffled, feminine sounding screams coming from inside. Prying the coffin open, or at least breaking it open, a little girl fell out. Catching her, Ken asked, "Are you alright?" Looking at her, Ken saw why her parents must've named her Pippi. That is, _if_ this was the missing girl he was sent after…

"Yeah, I'm fine." she wearily asked, "Who are you?"

"My name's Ken." he explained, "The Mayor sent me to save you!"

"Wow…" the girl replied, before latching on to a shocked Ken in a bone-crushing embrace, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squealed, "Hi! I'm Pippi, by the way, and I'm lost." Then, laying on the charm, "My, what a brave boy you are for finding me." she said, coming across like she was trying to flirt with Ken (or as close to flirting as a ten year-old girl could get).

"Well, not really…" Ken replied. He was always somewhat shy around the fairer sex, which had usually prevented him from being too boastful.

"You are too, brave." she protested, "I hope we can meet again sometime."

"Yeah, I guess…" Ken replied, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

"Yea! I'm so happy!" she said, happily jumping up and down, "To show my gratitude, take this as my gift!" She handed him a pin-on button with a lighting bolt running across it. "This shiny badge will guard you." she said, "Keep it!" Watching him pin it on his shirt, "Now, let's get back to town." Approaching the door, she started playing the damsel in distress routine a little bit further… "Ken, please go first. I'm so afraid."

"Then take this, at least." Ken replied, unfazed by her advances, as he handed her his sling shot.

"Oh wow, I'll always cherish this."

"Whatever!" Ken replied, hoping she even knew how to shoot that thing as they made their way out of the chamber. (To Pippi's dismay, however, the obviously transparent "damsel in distress" game she was playing, which she'd heard would snag her _any _boy she ever wanted, (at least, that's what it does in all those fairy tales she read) apparently wasn't work on him - unknown to her, he got enough of that crap at home…) Doing this, however, must've alerted every ghost, zombie, and bat throughout the cemetery, and they would do whatever it took to keep these two humans from escaping the graveyard alive…


	3. A Trip to the Zoo, and Canary Village To

**III**

_A Trip to the Zoo…_

…_and Canary Village Too_

Rushing back to Podunk as fast as Ken could drag Pippi along, while she was proving that she was a fairly decent shot, still playing her "damsel in distress" act to the fullest, hoping it would catch Ken's heart - a boy she saw as her knight in shining armor - or at least a reasonable facsimile, thereof. Still, it was Ken's responsibility to make sure this little wr- er, girl - was returned to her mother as safely as possible.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Pippi finally said, just as they'd got themselves a safe enough distance away from the cemetery.

"What is it?" Ken asked, annoyed.

"Don't I at least get a kiss from the brave boy that rescued me?" she asked, making her approach.

"Maybe later." Ken replied, lightly pushing her away, "Right now, we need to get you back to Podunk."

Pouting, Pippi was once again dragged back to the small country town, right up to City Hall, where the attending clerk told the pair that the Mayor was expecting them. Escorted to his private office by one of his more 'personal' secretaries (a different one from earlier) the Mayor looked up from his 'more interesting' paperwork and acknowledged Ken and Pippi's presence.

"Is this that lost little girl? Pippi, right?" the Mayor asks.

"Yes, I am." Pippi replied as her natural perkiness continued to shine through.

"Well that's just great." the Mayor replied, "I knew that you could fulfill your civic duty. *applause, applause* Now, pretty Pippi… *heh heh heh*" he told the girl, switching back into full politician mode, "don't forget to tell your mom that _the Mayor_ saved you." Ken was shocked, but not surprised that the Mayor was taking credit for his accomplishments. Still, he told himself that, even though he _was_ psychic, he should've seen this coming the second he was drafted to perform this little rescue mission.

"But…!" Pippi started to protest before Ken placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Save it, kid." Ken said, silencing her, "It's not worth it."

"Here, I'll even give Ken a reward of $100 from my own pocket." the Mayor said. (Well, at least it was something…) Stepping to his desk to make out a city check, "By the way, hero," the Mayor said to Ken, making yet another request from the young man, "maybe you'd like to see what's been going on at the zoo."

"Okay…?" Ken reluctantly agreed, naturally somewhat suspicious about this…

"Oh, you'll go?" the Mayor asked, "Great, that's great." Handing Ken the check, he ushers him out of his office, "Just make sure to get the key from Deputy Mayor Abbott. His office is across the hall. Now, if you don't mind, young man, I'm very busy, so if you'll please see yourself out."

"Now it's time to say goodbye." Pippi said, with a twinge of sadness in her voice as she pulled Ken aside, before he could leave the Mayor's office. (The Mayor was already on the phone, talking with Pippi's mother.)

"I guess." Ken replied, unenthusiastically as he was more than anxious to leave.

"Please come by my house," she requested, "I'll be waiting there to see you again." She giggled, "By the way… do you think my hair needs styling?" she asked, twirling a few strands around her finger, coyly smiling.

Looking it over, "Not really…" Ken replied.

"*tee hee* You didn't have to answer, cutie." she replied, playfully punching Ken's shoulder a little harder than she'd intended.

Finally stepping inside the Deputy Mayor's office, Abbott looked up from his mound of paperwork. "May I help you, son?" he asked, although not really looking at Ken.

"Uh… the Mayor asked me to…"

"Oh, about the zoo." Abbott replied, interrupting Ken as he rummaged through an over-cluttered desk drawer. "This key will open the zoo's gate." Abbott replied, handing Ken the key.

"Thank you." Ken replied, leaving.

Using his reward money to reserve a room at the nearby motel, Ken took a long deserved rest, though he still had to use his telepathy to convince the desk clerk that he really was old enough to rent a private room, making further use of his "Jedi Mind Trick" to allow him and his canary friend to stay the night. (Even though the inn didn't allow pets, the fact that he could actually afford the room wasn't enough to convince the clerk.) He was just glad that the check the Mayor had given him didn't bounce.

Bright and early the next morning Ken and his little canary friend, who was perched on Ken's ball cap as he checked out of the motel, taking the only route to the zoo that wasn't blocked off by the police barricade the Mayor had placed all around the city. Too bad that route led him straight back to the Langstrom's house, where Pippi was outside waiting for him, hoping he'd show up.

"Yoohoo! Ken!" Pippi whistled, calling out to Ken.

"Oh shit…" Ken replied in a whisper, as he forced himself to walk up to the house.

"I want to thank you for your help, young man." Mr. Langstrom said, "Pippi's fine now."

"That's nice." Ken said, disinterested and in a hurry to leave.

"I've heard about your wonderful adventure." Pippi said, swooning, "You're so brave, aren't you?"

"Not really…" Ken replied, looking longingly at the road ahead, eager to escape.

"You're brave, all right." she said, "I hope we can meet again sometime."

"I guess…"

As she was getting ready to kiss him, Pippi was dragged into the house by an apologetic mother, who lectured her young daughter about how, even though he saved her life, she was far too young to have such feelings for a boy.

Relieved, and mouthing a silent 'thank you' to the skies above, Ken walked off, as the canary asked him in their private telepathic language, "What was wrong with her? I thought she was quite cute, as far as humans go."

"I'm not really looking for a girlfriend right now." Ken replied, "Besides, I was hoping for someone closer to my age…"

"Is that right?" the canary added.

"Yeah…" Ken replied as they walked on, "…and I'd suggest you leave the subject at that, or you'll be looking for your mother alone."

"Shutting up, sir." the canary replied, getting a slight chuckle out of Ken. Sure, he'd miss the little bird when it was finally gone, but a promise was still a promise…

As he walked, Ken inadvertently walked onto Wally's land - the problem was that no one except Wally really knew where he landline began and ended, and he wasn't talking.

"Hey, punk!" the geezer yelled, "Get off my land!"

"Oh, shit!" Ken yelled, unable to escape a confrontation with the old man.

As Wally charged at Ken with his pitchfork aimed, Ken sidestepped and swung his bat, making Wally drop his weapon as he clutched his side.

"Damn you, kid!" Wally sneered, getting sore. Making his way to his pitchfork, Ken placed his foot over the tool's business end, holding it down. "Let go, you runt!" Wally demanded.

"OK." Ken said, letting his foot go, causing the farming tool to land on Wally's head, knocking the old man back on his hind end (at least the prongs missed Wally's head…) You could literally see the stars circle Wally's head before he went down for the count as Ken laughed as he and his canary friend left.

"What did you do to my Master?" this old dog demanded, snarling as it approached Ken.

"He started it!" Ken replied.

"LIAR!" the dog snapped, biting into Ken.

Prying the dog's jaws off his wrist, Ken swung his bat with his good hand, making the dog whine as Ken knocked it senseless as the dog landed next to its unconscious owner.

Shocked, Ken ran off as fast as his two feet could carry him, inadvertently making the canary drop from his ball cap.

"HEY! Wait for me!" the canary cried, struggling to fly after its caretaker, having to settle for running before scooping the tiny bird in his arms.

Along the way, Ken also had to face an old, stoned hippie, left over from the 60's Summer of Love - however this guy (who was probably under the influence of some hallucinogenic love drug) came at Ken, speaking gibberish. It didn't take much for Ken to bring the hippie back to his senses with a real good, hard swing from his bat.

Heading off the beaten path, and taking a wrong turn here and there, Ken stumbled upon a secluded aviary known as Canary Village, when the little canary started to excitably chirp.

"What is it?" Ken asked.

"This is it!" the little canary said, "My home!"

"Are you sure?" Ken asked.

"Positive!" the canary said, hopping off Ken's hat, making its way to the village.

"Hey, wait up!" Ken cried out as he gave chase, catching the excited bird.

"Let me go! Let me go!" the bird pleaded.

"Quiet!" Ken said, hushing his canary companion, as he casually, yet cautiously walked into the sanctuary, as to not disturb the residents, an elderly gentleman, the aviary's sole human inhabitant walked up to Ken.

"I'm sorry, young man, but this place isn't open to the public." the attendant said, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I'm sorry." Ken replied, "But I seem to have come across one of your bird-napped birds." revealing the chick to the attendant.

"Wow!" the attendant said, immediately recognizing the chick, "That canary is Laura's missing chick. We've been searching all over for it!"

"Who's Laura?" Ken asked.

"She's our special singing canary." the attendant simply explained.

"Don't all canary's sing?" Ken curiously asked.

"Yes, but none like her." the attendant boasted, "However, since her chick has gone missing, she's been too depressed to sing a note. This will surely cheer her up. Would you please return it to her?"

"Why me?" Ken asked, curious.

"It's obvious that you took real good care of it, young man." the attendant replied, "I think she'll like to meet the human who found and took care of her young'en."

Getting the idea, Ken asked, "Where is she?"

"Her nest isn't far from here." the attendant replied, pointing toward a nearby enclosure, "She's the darker colored canary. You can't miss her."

Approaching her nest, near a silver pillar concealing a hidden gateway that led just outside the village's wall…

"Laura?" Ken asked, using his telepathy to communicate with her.

"I am Laura." she sorrowfully replied, "Who are you?"

"My name's Ken, and I think I have someone who would like to see you." Ken replied, holding her chick up for her to see.

"Ma-ma?" the chick asked.

Realizing who it was, Laura was so overjoyed to have her chick back that she immediately began singing.

…_~"Simple As Can Be"~…_

The song, however, made Ken feel like it had _something_ to do with that melody played by that music box inside Mimi's broken doll, but he just couldn't put his finger on it…

"Thank you, young human." Laura replied, "You don't know how grateful I am for your kindness."

"It was a pleasure."

"Bye!" the little canary chick said, "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, little guy." Ken said, leaving before he could choke up any further. To his dismay, however, he still had a job to do. But, at least, it turned out the zoo was only just a few miles (by foot) from the aviary.

Arriving at the zoo's gate, Ken saw this monkey guarding the gate.

"hey, little guy." Ken said, admiring the pint-sized simian.

Chattering, the monkey nimbly stole Ken's key and hastily ran inside the zoo's gate.

"Hey!" Ken yelled as the monkey jumped the fence. Pausing, "Huh, what's this?" Ken asked himself, getting a better look at the gate, "The lock's already broken…" Looking around for something to use to pry the gate open enough to squeeze in, Ken saw something that might've worked. Using his telekinetic powers, he floated a couple of stray nails over to him, and used them to pick the lock. "Bingo…" Ken smugly said, hearing a tell-tale click that allowed him to freely enter the zoo's gate, "That was almost _too_ easy…"

Once inside the zoo, Ken heard this strange, unearthly sound that made his head feel like it wanted to split in half. Strange, though the sound couldn't be heard until his telepathy suddenly kicked in the second he stepped through the gate. Whatever it was, however, if _he_ couldn't stand it, then the animals must've _really_ been in agony. No wonder they were all going wild! Some of the bigger ones had even escaped their enclosures, and they were on the warpath. Ken had to be extra careful to avoid confrontation while he tried to figure out what was causing this unholy noise and how he was going to stop it. Doing what he could to avoid the variously vicious packs of wild animals that were roaming loose around the zoo. Ken made it to the zoo's administration office, where the noise was at its strongest. Maybe now he could get some answers.

Stepping inside, the ear-splitting noise only got worse. It didn't take long for Ken to figure out that this place was the source of what was causing the animals to run amok. What Ken couldn't understand was "why?" The building itself appeared to have been abandoned, however - like nothing in it had been touched in years.

"This must've been going on since this place was evacuated…" Ken thought, not wanting to think about what'd been going on these last few weeks since news about the disturbance was first reported in the Podunk Press. Deep down, Ken had always had a soft spot in his heart for animals - especially penguins. (don't ask…) They were the only thing he loved more than trying to make the school's baseball team every year, which, with his "ability", was almost every year.

Exploring each room of the abandoned office complex, Ken finally saw this strange blue and white capsule floating about five feet off the ground in the superintendent's office. Cautiously approaching it, the capsule suddenly popped open as the steam that jetted out of the capsule finally evaporated - a strange, apparently robotic creature emerged. The robot looked like the ones Ken had seen in those old 1950's sci-fi movies he'd watch every Halloween while his mother and sisters went trick-or-treating. The way its body is built, however, it could've been best be described as a "Starman," like a generic drawing of a star that was made to look humanoid. Aside from its silvery, steel-like body, it also sported a pitch black visor where its eyes would've been placed.

His telepathy already warning him that this alien did **not** come in peace, Ken threw caution to the wind and attacked, whacking at the Starman with his baseball bat. The robot appeared unfazed, though, but it was obviously taken by surprise, unprepared for Ken's attack, clearly underestimating its human foe.

As the Starman charged up for an attack, Ken continued whacking away at it as the robot braced itself for whatever this small human was possibly capable of. As it shot its psychic beam attack, Ken was sure he was going to die - but miraculously, the badge that Pippi had given him immediately bounced the beam right back, catching the Starman off guard. Though the return shot did nothing against it, that was something the robot's combat programming wasn't expecting.

As the Starman dodged another swing from Ken's bat, it chopped into Ken's back, sending him across the room, dangerously close to crashing through a second story window. Recovering his stance in the nick of time, Ken hastily cast one of his healing spells on himself, recovering enough strength to continue fighting.

As the Starman readied itself to fire another beam attack, Ken got lucky, hitting the Starman mid-charge, forcing it to lose the concentration necessary to gather the beam's energy.

Angered, or as close enough to the emotion a robot could get, the Starman retaliated, slugging Ken with both its fists, balled together with the force of a sledgehammer on steroids, while all Ken could do was keep swinging at it. He was even lucky enough, though, to dodge the Starman's next physical attack.

Putting all he had left into one more swing, Ken saw the robot stagger back as sparks began to fly from its midsection as soon as the bat finished making contact, forcing the wardroid to retreat back into its capsule-shaped ship. As it flew off, the odd sounds that were driving the animals mad quickly died down and the animals almost instinctively returned to their cages. Now, the zoo was once again a safe place to visit.

Near the administration office, Ken saw something he'd missed earlier - a poster for one of the zoo's biggest attractions….

"**ONE OF A KIND!"**

"**See the Amazing Singing Monkey!"**

Since he'd first heard of it, Ken had always wanted to see it, (Why not? Podunk had absolutely **nothing** a teenager could do (without getting in trouble) around town on the weekends - no movie theater, a hardly interesting mall, or even a bowling alley, so seeing something like this, especially if you can use the "my parents dragged me" excuse, would be something exciting, no matter the age) but his dad was never home long enough to take the family to see it. Then, the disturbances happened, and well…

Approaching the monkey's cage, Ken was surprised and amused to see that the singing monkey was the same monkey that had stolen his key back at the gate. Seeing it had an audience, the monkey instinctively began to sing its sweet sounding melody.

…_~"Give It Some Voice"…~_

Again, there was something strange about that song, though - somehow, it felt strangely, yet vaguely familiar to Ken. He also found the key that monkey had stolen on the ground, abandoned near the monkey's cage. So, Ken pocketed it and left the zoo, no longer paying any attention to why that monkey's song haunted him.

Returning the key to the Mayor, and giving him an altered report about what was going on, who'd believe the story of an alien causing all that havoc. Afterwards, Ken rented another room at the motel, resorting to using his "Jedi Mind Trick" again to convince the innkeeper to let him have another room before heading back to the crossroads near the zoo the following morning.

While at City Hall, though, in lieu of payment, the Mayor told Ken that he'd have the Police Chief make the officers guarding the road to let him go through.

"Deep in a cave, there's this weird, rock-like thing." the officer on guard told Ken, letting him pass through the blockade, "It's so strange, you should definitely take a look."

Approaching the cave, that thing the officer wanted him to look at was almost calling out to him. Finding the cave, Ken decided to do some amateur spelunking, even though the cave itself was pretty easy to explore - almost as if the entire cavern was completely manmade. At the end of the pathway, however, Ken found the rock: a pink, twisting spire with two X's engraved on one side. Cautiously approaching it, reaching out for it, the rock started speaking to Ken via telepathy.

"Who has lost his tail?" the strange rock asked, almost machine-like.

"Who has lost his tail?" Ken asked himself, confused.

Playing a hunch, he grabbed his Great-Grandfather's old diary and turned to a random page. The book itself was never truly preserved, so the writing on its old, broken and age-colored pages was faded to the point that it was way beyond difficult to read, and though the rock was shedding some type of strange, natural light, the cave's darkness made it even harder to make out what was written so long ago.

Still, Ken was able to find the passage, "(PASSWORD) …the one who lost his tail. The forgotten one. …the ship that sails…"

When asked for the password a second time, he responded, aloud, "The forgotten one of the ship that sails the cosmos." Almost instantly, after he answered the rock's question, Ken felt himself being torn apart as he was instantly teleported to a land beyond his wildest dreams…


	4. Welcome to the Mystical Land of Magicant

**IV**

_Welcome to the Mystical Land of Magicant_

As soon as light returned to Ken's tired eyes, he was astonished to see that he was no longer anywhere _near_ Podunk, or anywhere else for that matter. Thinking he'd died, he somewhat ruled that possibility out, since (even though this place _looked_ nice) this didn't look _anything_ like what he'd imagine Heaven would be like. But, at least it wasn't what he'd heard Hell was like, either.

Walking around, the ground he was stood on was almost like cotton candy clouds - they were soft to the touch, but were also sturdy enough to walk on. He also saw that the water that flowed through this mysterious world was like white liquid chocolate, yet it flowed like the swiftest moving mountain stream. The sky was even painted in a pink tinted hue.

"Where the heck am I, Oz?" Ken asked as he came upon a small village. Still, all he knew was that he was still alive, so he was pretty grateful for that.

Walking about, Ken noticed that this world's small, elf-like inhabitants hardly paid him any mind, almost as if he was just another local character. Whoever they were, though, Ken's "Spider-Sense" was telling him that they were at least friendly. The overall serene feeling this place was giving made Ken feel like he was somehow back home again.

To him, this place really was like Heaven - the village diner had his favorite foods as the menu 27/7, free room and board at the local motel, and a clinic where all the doctor had to do was look at you and you're perfectly healed in no time - plus, there was no waiting in line to see the doctor, either! There was even a place where he could store unneeded items he'd picked up along the way that he didn't have room to keep, but he didn't want to sell, either. If this place really was for real, Ken didn't want to leave. The only thing he found truly odd (discounting everything else he's seen so far) was that each house resembled the strange spire he'd found in that cave.

"Where am I, anyway?" he asked, really speaking to no one in particular.

"You're in Magicant." one of the town's inhabitants said, passing by Ken.

"Where, or what is Magicant?"

"A place beyond your wildest imagination." the townsperson replied, "There's no exit from a place like Magicant."

"What…?"

Laughing, he asked, "Have you met a man who says you cannot part from with someone you have not met?"

"No…" Ken replied, confused.

"Well, you should meet him, then." the townsperson said, "Cheerio." he said, leaving.

Walking around, still in a daze, another person asked him, "Are you bothered that unhappiness and misfortune search you out?"

"Somewhat…" Ken replied.

"If you never desire to find trouble…" the stranger replied, "STAY HOME!"

Leaving that cackling douche bag behind, Ken continued on, hoping to find out more about this place the locals called "Magicant."

Just as he exited the town's main gates, Ken was told that this world's ruler, Queen Mary, had heard about him and requested his presence. Walking up to the castle's gate, however, three guards barred his path.

"Um… excuse me?" Ken said, "I was told that I was to see your queen."

"Suspicious man…" the guard said, sneering, "I will let you pass, if you solve this riddle…"

"Two alligators." Ken abruptly replied, using his telepathy to read the guard's mind.

"That's right." the guard replied, stunned, "And I hadn't even come up with the riddle, yet."

"Lucky guess?" Ken said, slightly embarrassed as the guards reluctantly let him pass.

Inside the palace, Ken was escorted to the queen's throne room, while he and his escort were exchanging small talk between themselves…

"I wish I could hear the Queen sing again." the footman said.

"She must have a beautiful voice." Ken commented.

"The most, sir. But Queen Mary often has nightmares." the footman added, "As if scolding a naughty child, she cries out, 'I am scared! I am scared!' And then she starts to sing… just a little bit. Then she forgets the tune and wakes up in a sweat. I wonder what sad experience has done this to Queen Mary? She hasn't been feeling well, though…"

"I'm sorry to hear that." Ken replied.

With that, Ken and the footman came to a closed chamber door.

"Wait here," the footman said, "I'll announce your presence to the Queen."

Being told he could approach, Ken approached the Queen, hat in hand, instinctively bowing down before her, like he had seen in all those old fairy tale movies his mother made him watch with his sisters when it was their turn to hog the only TV in the house that was hooked up to a VCR for the evening… (it was also the only one with basic cable, too - all the TV in his room could get was network channels. But at least he had full access to the Nintendo, when he wasn't grounded, that is.)

"Rise, Ken." Queen Mary said, in the most beautiful, serene and angelic voice imaginable, "And welcome. Here in Magicant, everyone is your friend and you can have as much as you like of whatever you want."

Getting a better look at the Queen, Ken felt a strange familiarity about her, like he'd had seen her somewhere else before, even to the point he somehow felt like he'd known her his entire life - however, he just couldn't quite put his finger on it…

"If I may ask, Your Highness," Ken asked, "But why don't you sing?"

Surprised, she asked, "You want to listen to my song?"

"If it's not too much trouble, Your Majesty."

"I'm sorry," she replied, saddened, "I don't know why, but I just can't sing. I beg you, kind sir, to learn the melody." she pleaded, "It's only eight lines long. When you learn it all, please return and sing it to me. If only I could hear that song…"

"I would, Your Highness," Ken asked, "But how exactly can I learn the melody if I can't leave Magicant?"

"Beyond these walls is an area known as The Valley of One-Hundred Wells." she instructed, "In one of those wells, you'll be able to descend into a cavern. Taking that cavern, you'll be able to return to your world."

"All of us in Magicant know you don't belong here, though we consider you one of us." one of her retainers added, "With the Onyx Hook, you can warp back here anytime. Promise me, that if you need help, you will return. We all love you, Ken."

"To guide you safely along the way, I will have one of my personal knights, the Flyingmen, act as your body guard." Queen Mary added, "You will find their quarters on the other side of the palace gates."

With that, Ken thanked the Queen for her hospitality and left the palace. Along the way, though, Ken overheard this minstrel singing…

…_~"Why do you cry, oh Cupid-Doll?"~…_

…_~"The canary sings so sadly"~…_

…_~"Monkeys sing"~…_

…_~"Pianos play"~…_

…_~"Maybe there is a ghost?"~…_

…_~"Desert cactus, so alone"~…_

…_~"Every night, his sad, sad tone"~…_

…_~"The dragon sleeps, the notes remain"~…_

…_~"Eve's last song has no refrain"~…_

…"_~On the mountain named Itoi"~…_

…_~"You must climb high, young boy"~…_

…_~"See the XX-Stone for the last tone"~…_

…_~"Then do not leave Queen Mary alone"~…_

…_~"La la Lullaby"~…_

…_~"Strange lullaby"~…_

…_~"Bye-bye-bye"~…_

…_~"Goodbye"~…_

Hearing that, a sudden thought flashed through Ken's astonished mind. Those melodies he'd heard - the music box hidden inside his sister's doll, Laura the canary, and that singing monkey - all of those songs they sang were all fragments to that song Queen Mary had asked him to learn. Now, at least, that part of the mystery made sense.

"Well," Ken thought, "three lines down, five more to go."

Going past the Queen's castle, learning that this world's water was so thick that you could actually walk on it in some parts near the coastline, where Ken found a small hut, housing these weird looking, humanoid birdmen.

"We're the Flyingmen." they said in perfect unison, "Our destiny is to serve you."

With that said, the oldest, who was obviously their leader, stepped forward. "Allow me to be your personal bodyguard." it squawked, refusing to take 'no' for an answer.

Guiding Ken through the outskirts of Magicant, the Flyingman showed off one of the kingdom's pride and joy attractions - Queen Mary's Fountain.

"What's so special about it?" Ken asked.

"When you drink this fountain's enchanted water, all your wounds will be healed." the Flyingman replied.

Curious, Ken cupped his hands and dipped them into the water, bringing the water to his lips for a drink. Though he had no wounds to heal, Ken did feel better from drinking the refreshing liquid.

"Wow…" Ken thought, "I never knew water could taste so good…"

With that, a strange beings appeared before Ken, one only he could see.

"Did you call me?" the old man asked, "You need money, don't you…"

"Not really." Ken replied, astonished.

With a scowl, the old man returned from where he came from.

"Come, young Ken." the Flyingman said, "We must hurry if we're to make it to The Valley of One-Hundred Wells.

Just as they were about to make it to the valley, they were confronted by a particularly powerful enemy - a giant oak tree stump.

Swinging its branch-like arm at Ken and the Flyingman in a slashing motion, Ken and his bodyguard struck back at the stump, barely scratching its wooden hide. The oak's retaliatory attack focused on the Flyingman, who had seen that the oak's attack had drawn blood. Seeing red, the Flyingman attacked further, but the oak's attack were twice as powerful, as it somehow evaded Ken's bat swings. When he finally got a powerful enough swing in, the giant oak burst into flames, engulfing the area.

"Get down!" the Flyingman instinctively warned, taking the blunt of the flame from the dying monster, leaving nothing behind but a severely burned corpse, but at least his young human charge was still alive.

"Flyingman?" Ken asked, stirring. Able to get up, his body ached so bad he nearly exhausted his psychic healing powers to recover. Looking around, his fears were confirmed.

"Oh, no…" There, he saw the Flyingman's charbroiled corpse. "Flyingman!" he yelled, never feeling such a sense of loss before in his life - no one, let alone anyone he'd never been given a chance to really know has ever given his life for him.

Grieving, Ken gathered his scattered belongings and walked on to his destination, but not without hearing…

"We heard our brother died with honor in combat." Turning around, Ken saw the Flyingman's four surviving brothers, who'd arrived to take their eldest sibling back home for a proper burial, "With our love, he will be buried in our private cemetery."

As they left, Ken had no choice but carry on alone. Like it or not, he had work to do, and the sooner he got it done, the better.

Remembering what he'd heard from one of Queen Mary's footmen, Ken searched for that certain well among hundreds. One of them, he didn't know which one, would lead him back to the 'real world.'

Finally finding that one well afer what seemed like hours of searching, Ken descended into the earth Inside, each pathway Ken could take all forked into two possible paths - one would led to a dead end and the other continued in a similar pattern until he finally would reach the cavern he needed to use to escape Magicant.

Following the straightforward cavern, Ken found this sleeping dragon, blissfully unaware of the young boy's existence, which Ken was more than grateful for as he continued to creep by.

Near the end, Ken saw this chasm that he had no choice but to cross. To do so, however, he had to fight this fish - a fish could breath air like it was water - but compared to what Ken had seen of Magicant so far, a land where nothing that made sense should ever happened, a live fish out of water was nothing to be surprised about.

Whacking at the fish, it continuously bit back at him while Ken continued his own series of physical attacks. In between the fish's counterattacks, Ken used all but what was left of his psychic ability to raise his defenses and rebuild his fighting strength, even using them lower the fish's defenses, which helped Ken as the fish continued its biting attacks, each one causing Ken less and less damage.

Finally going back on the offensive, Ken missed the fish's next bite as it came back for more, while the fish managed to swim around Ken's bat a second time, continuing its onslaught.

Finally, having enough of this annoying fish's antice, Ken tried a new trick he'd picked up somewhere along the way between here and Podunk. Hypnotizing the fish into a deep sleep, Ken kept beating it until it went belly up, relinquishing its guarded treasure, a trinket the people of Magicant called the Onyx Hook, a stone fishing hook that would allow Ken to reenter Magicant from the other world any time he pleased from almost any-_where_ he wished. Also, he found a steel katana. Though he couldn't use it himself, he felt it would be useful later on. After all, the Queen herself said that everything was his for the taking, however it was best if he didn't get _too_ greedy.

Reaching a dead end, Ken saw that his only way out of the cavern was being blocked by a man with his front to the wall.

"Excuse me? Sir?" Ken asked, getting the stranger's attention.

"I am a forgotten man." the stranger abruptly said, "I'm not really here."

"Okay…" Ken replied, confused.

"You didn't have to notice me…" the stranger continued, "Please ignore me."

"Why?" Ken asked.

"I am a man who does not exist." he explained, further continuing his meaningless, yet depressing rant, "You talk so kindly, I don't know what to do. If I miss people, I can't live alone anymore."

"I guess that's true…" Ken replied, finally playing along with the stranger's mind game. Though, some would say that Ken was somehow bending the rules to suit his favor.

"My conversation is always a monologue." the stranger continued, "I've been alone from the moment I was born…"

"That's sad… I-I'm sorry to hear that." Ken replied, "I guess not everyone's lucky enough to have friends and a family." Now _he_ was starting to feel depressed.

"Lucky, unlucky… It makes no difference to me. Sometimes, even breathing becomes too much." he stated, "Why do you insist on talking to me? Are you a forgotten man, too?"

"No…" Ken honestly replied.

"That's right." the stranger interrupted, "That is right, right? Go ahead! Ignore me like everyone else."

"If that's what you really want."

"That's right." the stranger replied, with a weak smile, "Thank you." And with that, the stranger disappeared, as if he was never there to begin with.

"Where'd he go?" Ken asked, looking around. Deciding not to question his sanity any further, Ken took the exit, winding up next to another strange, pink twisted rock with two X's engraved on it. However, this time, when he finally emerged from this cave, Ken was shocked and dismayed to discover that he wasn't anywhere _near Podunk anymore…_


	5. A Friend in Need

**V**

_A Friend in Need…_

Emerging from the cave, Ken descended the mountain trail down to ground level, eventually heading into the town of Merrysville.

"Wow…" Ken thought as he roamed around town, having never been this far from Podunk on his own before. Truth was, Merrysville wasn't that far from Podunk, maybe about 100 miles if you drew a straight line on a map - however, there was no real clear pathway between the two towns, which made traveling by car all the more difficult, though it was far from impossible.

Walking up to a newsstand, Ken picked up the latest copy of The Merrysville Times, where it was plastered with articles about a rock slide and bridge collapse crippling the Union Passenger Train lines - one of the last remaining commercial passenger train services in the country that was still be in operation. He'd also read that the Mayor of Podunk had lifted the curfew and removed the barricades around the town. Still, Ken wasn't surprised that there wasn't even the slightest mention of him anywhere in the article… Well, what could he do? He was just some random pre-teenager in an adult's world - albeit, one with psychic powers, but he was still considered a kid nonetheless.

Tossing the paper away into the nearest trash bin, Ken started using his powers to eavesdrop on a pair of local kids talking about this "genius" who attended Twinkle Elementary School. Deciding on the spur of the moment, though Ken really couldn't explain why, he felt he absolutely _had_ to meet him. The problem was, even though this _was_ summer vacation, that Twinkle Elementary is a year-round campus, where students are forced to trade off summer vacation in favor of having more holidays and an extended weekend spread out throughout the year.

Before he could go through with it, though, Ken noticed a light smog was hanging in the air from the two factories located on either side of town. Worried, Ken found a pharmacy with a phone booth and placed a long distance call to Podunk. His problem? Though he was normally an active, otherwise healthy person, he had the worst case of asthma you'd ever hear of. That, as he was leaving home, he skipped out without his inhaler.

"Come on, Mom… Pick up." he moaned, hearing it ring on the other end.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime of waiting, Ken heard the phone pick up, but his sigh of relief was short lived when he heard who'd answered it.

"Hello? Walters residence." Mimi answered.

Silently cursing under his breath over the fact that he _really_ didn't want to talk to one of the twins, especially the chatterbox of the pair, and the fact he hated that their parents made each of them use that greeting whenever they answered the phone - he even hated hearing any of them using it.

"Is Mom there?" Ken asked.

"Ken!" she asked, trilled, "Oh, it's so good to hear from you! *blahblahblah*, *blah* *blah* *blahblahblah*…"

"Yeah, yeah, sis." Ken replied, cutting her off, "It's nice to hear your voice, too. But I'm on borrowed time, here, so could you _please_ put her on?"

"Huh?" Mimi asked, "Oh, sure…" she replied, disappointed. Since they were born, they seemed to fight over their big brother's _sacred_, undivided attention. "MOM!" she yelled, loud enough to be heard through her hand over the receiver, "TELEPHONE!"

"At least Mini's a little more polite on the issue…" Ken thought - as opposed to yelling, Minnie would actually go look for you. Still, Ken snickered, thinking, "Ooo… Mimi's in for it now…" Mom and Dad usually let her have it every time she did that… It's a wonder she hasn't gotten the hint, already. No, their parents didn't spank them, or anything, but there were worse punishments a seven year-old girl can endure.

"Hello?" their mom's angelic voice asked, coming over the line.

"Mom?" Ken asked, not really believing it.

"Ken?" she asked, "What's wrong? Are you alright? Is…?"

"Mom, I'm fine!" Ken replied, cutting her off, "I just need you to do me a favor."

"Sure, Honey. What is it?"

"As soon as I hang up, could you have the pharmacy wire one of the inhaler prescriptions to the pharmacy in Merrysville?" Ken asked, "I, uh… ran out along the way."

"Oh?" his mother asked, "And how could you have ran out…" her voice getting more stern, "…when it's sitting in the upstairs medicine cabinet?"

"Oops…" Ken thought, "Busted!" Even with telepathy, he was a terrible liar.

"Ken!" his mother halfway shouted, "You're almost thirteen years-old. Almost a teenager! You're not a kid anymore!" Catching herself before she really started to yell, she calmed down for a brief minute, "OK, fine! Just this once…"

Smiling, Ken replied, "Thanks, Mom."

"Just…" his mother said, before hanging up the phone, "Be more careful with this one, huh?"

Waiting for about an hour after the Merrysville Pharmacy got the call from Podunk, Ken got his needed inhaler medication and left to 'infiltrate' Twinkle Elementary School.

Inside the campus walls, Ken played it as natural as he could, passing himself off as an actual student, instead of simply being a mere visitor. That was, until…

"Hey, I don't think I've seen you here before." a student hall monitor said, confronting Ken. "You mustn't be from around here… are you?"

"Uh, no… I just moved here yesterday." Ken replied, avoiding eye contact.

"Show me what you've got." the kid said.

"Excuse me?" Ken asked, not quite sure about what this kid meant.

"You don't have anything dangerous on you, do you?" the kid explained.

"Oh, no. I don't." Ken hastily replied, relieved that the hall monitor let him go, unaware of the baseball bat handle sticking out of his backpack. To avoid further confrontation, Ken even removed his ball cap, stuffing it in his pocket, and spits out the gum he was chewing into the nearest trashcan.

Easily entering one of the classrooms - Ken assumed it was the school's free period - the students were just sitting at their desks, while some were even roaming around, talking amongst themselves while the teacher was away.

"Did you see a strange man in the lab?" a strange girl asked Ken, approaching him.

"No, I didn't." Ken replied, playing the "new kid" act even further.

"Well… I saw him." another kid said, joining the conversation.

"Really?" the girl asked.

"Yeah!" the other gossip replied, "I'm pretty sure it was that weakling, Lloyd."

"Lloyd?" Ken asked, confused.

"Yeah." the girl replied, "He's so weak. The whole school likes to pick on him."

"I see…" Ken replied, with an air of disdain in his voice. "I guess I'll see you guys around."

Deep down, Ken never cared for such people, those who picked on others for little or no reason. But when the whole school was in on it, well… that was just taking simple schoolyard bullying a bit too far. That only led to… well… he didn't want to think of what would happen if, or when, this Lloyd person finally snaps.

Wandering around the nearly halls, Ken noticed there were hardly any students on campus, but then again - Twinkle Elementary wasn't that big of a school to begin with.

At the end of the hall on the top floor, Ken saw this door marked "Roof Entrance".

"If this Lloyd kid's hiding somewhere, the roof's as good a place as any to start looking." However, after further inspecting the door, Ken could not only see it was locked, but barricaded as well.

"Isn't that just a little bit of overkill?" Ken asked, disappointed that his psychic powers didn't include manipulating such small objects. Besides, since he was legally trespassing into a school he wasn't even enrolled at, he wanted to stay as much on the down low as possible - which meant **no** powers!

"You want to head to the roof?" a kid asked Ken from behind.

"Is it that obvious?" he replied.

"You really are new, aren't you?" the student scoffed, "the head janitor's the only one with the key to that… mess." referring to the barricade.

"Where is he?" Ken asked.

"His "office" is on the ground floor, across from the mess hall." the student replied. "Good luck, though."

"Why?" Ken asked, curious.

"If you want to get that key from him, you're gonna need all the luck you can get." the student left, laughing.

"Oh, I think I can persuade him…" Ken said to himself, with a smirk, heading back to the ground floor to the head custodian's office.

Opening the door, Ken found the janitor having his lunch and listening to an area oldies station on his radio. Noticing Ken, the Janitor turned off his radio, put down his fast food hamburger and, with a sneer, asked, "Whatta ya want?"

"Um…" Ken replied, cautiously, "The door to the roof is locked." stating the obvious.

"Of course it's locked!" the janitor yelled, "We can't have any of you little Hellspawns sneaking out to play games when they should be suffering in study hall!"

"I guess that makes sense." Ken replied, pretending to agree with the janitor, noticing the old man's 'demeanor', which actually caught him off guard. However, Ken's comment did somewhat manage to soften the old man's disposition.

"It's not that big of a problem." The old man added, spilling his heart out in a near drunken fashion, "My wife is a bigger problem." Now he was starting to sob, "She doesn't get out of bed until after noon every day. She won't even pack me a brown bag lunch! Isn't that just horrible?"

"Yeah…" Ken replied, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Luckily for him, at least, he and his sisters didn't have to worry about that, just a father that was away on business far too often. But, at least he _called_ every day.

"Then, when she does get up, she goes shopping. Luckily, I hid the credit cards from that old wench! Don't you think she's a terrible wife?"

"Oh yeah!" Ken replied, playing along, "She makes Peg Bundy sound like June Cleaver!"

"You said it." the janitor said, taking another swig from his thermos, "When she was young, she was beautiful. Come to think of it, she ain't that bad after all. Would you care for some tea, young man?"

"Yes, please…" Ken replied. Handed a cup, Ken was about to take a sip, until he got a real good whiff of what was in the cup. Though it looked like tea, it smelled like (what Ken thought was) 90-proof. No wonder this guy was getting over-emotional! Ken was starting to believe he was also an emotion-contorting empathic… Ken gently placed the cup on a nearby table and decided to keep this little incident to himself.

"You're a pretty good kid." the janitor added, with the alcohol finally taking full effect, "You say you need to go up to the roof? Follow me, then."

Leading Ken back to that locked door on the second floor, Ken was surprised to see that the old geezer could still walk straight.

"My wife was the first Miss Merrysville in history!" the janitor said while working the lock. After hearing a tell-tale click, "OK, I've unlocked the roof." the janitor finally said, "While you're up there…"

"Yes?"

"Make sure to take in the view. It's unforgettable."

Groaning as the janitor left, Ken walked up to the school's roof, where he saw nothing but a lone trash can. The strange thing was, that there were these weird noises coming from inside the metal container.

"Who are you?" a voice from inside the trashcan asked, sensing movement coming from the outside, "Whoever you are, I'm not coming out! If I do, everyone will pick on me."

"Oh, come on!" Ken pleaded, "I promise _I_ won't pick on you." Somehow, Ken still felt that whoever was in there had heard all of this before. Except this time, Ken was one of the few, if only, people that actually meant it.

"You're bluffing!" the voice replied, still not believing the voice _outside_ the trash can.

"No, I'm not!" Ignored, Ken began to get desperate, "Ah, come on!" he pleaded further, "What do I need to do to prove to you that I won't bite?"

"You know that building on the north end of town, Sweets Little Factory?"

"Yeah, I think so." Ken replied, "What about it?"

"Bring me some of their bottle rockets, and _maybe_ I'll come out."

Sighing, seeing he had no other choice, Ken left. Heading back to the northern part of town, Ken found the abandoned Sweets Little Factory, which (after being vacant since the 70's) nature was finally beginning to reclaim - it was almost too surprising that the building itself hasn't been condemned yet.

Entering, Ken saw the entrance led down a straight hall, suspended over the working area as a lookout bridge. The work area was littered with old, unused and dilapidated equipment, as various rats and roaches gladly called this place home, fearfully scurrying out of Ken's path, as those that were actually brave enough to attack didn't last long in combat - one defensive hit as they leapt at him sent the little vermin flying.

"*sigh*" Ken thought, "Now, if I were a set of bottle rockets, where in an abandoned factory would I hide?" Taking the stairs at the end of the bridge to a higher level, Ken basically backtracked over the higher bridge.

"Best bet they'd be on the top floor." Ken thought, "But just how many levels are there to this build…" his thoughts were interrupted by a rat biting into his leg. More mad than hurt, Ken used his bat to swat at the rat, applying a little bit too much unintended force in the swing, knocking the old rodent into a fatal unconsciousness.

Continuing this back and forth trip up the factory's interior, Ken eventually found himself at the end of the third floor, where at the end, he found a trash can.

"Well…" Ken thought, "So far, I've found stranger things in trash cans."

Taking off the lid, Ken dug around until he found something…

"Bingo…" Ken said, with a small smile across his face. The trash can was filled to the brim with these things.

Grabbing enough to fulfill that kid's request, Ken headed back to Twinkle Elementary, returning to the school's roof.

Gently knocking on the trash can's cover…

"Who's out there!" the kid hiding inside asked, "Whoever it is, I am _not_ coming out!"

"It's me!" Ken replied, "I have those bottle rockets you wanted. _Now_, will you come out?"

"You really _do_ want to be my friend, don't you?" the kid asked, his voice echoing from inside the metal container, showing signs that the ice was melting.

"If I didn't, would I've gone through all that trouble to get these?"

"Please don't tell anyone," the kid said, "but I stole some explosives."

"You're secret's safe, pal." Ken sincerely replied.

"All right, I'm coming out." Climbing out of the trash can was a young boy, around Ken's age, about a year younger, with silvery-blonde hair and thick glasses. "Hi, I'm Lloyd." he said, cautiously introducing himself, "I wanted to fly those bottle rockets that the Sweet Little Factory were producing."

"Here." Ken said, handing them over, "And my name's Ken, by the way." extending his hand.

"Wow!" Lloyd said, looking them over, awestruck, "These are sure to cause a bang! We may be able to make some of our own. Come with me to the lab."

"Wait, what?" Ken asked, running after Lloyd. Sure, Ken had wanted to make a friend or two while he searched for answers, but he also wanted to stay as on the down low as possible.

"Later, we should go to Duncan's Factory…" Lloyd said, leading Ken to the school's science lab, "I've heard they were constructing an incredible rocket." Ken was starting to doubt if he did the right thing by even talking to Lloyd in the first place. "They call me names, like 'weakling', or 'four eyes', or worse…" he added, "I'm sure that you've heard them."

"Some…" Ken admitted. True, he was pretty popular himself, one of those who were friendly with, and well-respected by, many of the school's social cliques. Still, Ken had no tolerance for people who picked on others for little or no reason.

Entering the school's empty science lab, Lloyd took Ken to an unused table full of lab equipment, where he locked the door so they could conduct their experiment in private.

"Your bottle rocket and…" Lloyd said, eyes aglow as the gears in his mind went ablaze, processing the possibilities, "great isn't it?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Lloyd?" Ken asked.

Before Lloyd could put Ken's fears to rest, that's when things started to go wrong. Quickly ducking for cover, Ken and Lloyd narrowly missed being blown to bits by the resulting explosion. The only real causality was the lab itself - the resulting explosion left it a complete disaster area - chemicals and glass shrapnel splashed all over the wall, the blackboard falling off its supports, and a small, yet controllable fire engulfed the lab tables.

"I must've screwed up, somehow…" Lloyd replied as Ken grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher, immediately smothering the flames. Hearing noise from outside, "Great!" Lloyd asked, "How're we going to get out of here?"

Taking the Onyx Hook out of his backpack, "I've got an idea…" Ken said, getting his new friend's attention, "Lloyd, grab on!"

Though suspicious, Lloyd obliged. As soon as Ken lifted the hook to the ceiling, they were instantly teleported back to Magicant in a blink of an eye, just as the school's fuzz entered the now empty disaster area of a science lab. Since no one was in there, and no one saw them enter, it was deemed an unfortunate accident and all science classes were cancelled for the rest of the month while they made repairs. (Ken didn't mind, though - deep down, he hated Science Class.)

"Wow… Look at this place!" Lloyd said, taking in the psychedelic scenery, "Where in the world are we?"

"A place beyond your wildest dreams." Ken replied.

"I don't know," Lloyd responded, "I've had some pretty crazy dreams."

Around that time, a cream colored cat, swimming in the middle of the cloudy land, approached the two boys.

"Whoa! Look at that!" Lloyd commented, astonished at the wonderland's many unusual and illogical sites.

"I am a swimming cat." the feline stated, "Have you heard of a magic candy that can give strength and power to a helpless child?"

"I wish I had some of that." Lloyd replied, keeping it under his breath.

"That boy with glasses could surly use it." the cat added, tossing Lloyd the candy before swimming off.

"Go ahead, Lloyd." Ken urged.

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"I swear, nothing here will hurt us… not in this area, anyway."

Taking Ken's word for it, Lloyd looked at the piece of candy.

"Well…" he sighed, "Over the lips and pass the gums." looking up, hoping he wouldn't regret it later on, "Look out, stomach - here it comes."

Popping the confection into his mouth, Lloyd let it dissolve, getting a strange look of satisfaction on his face.

"Well?" Ken asked, "Did it work?"

"Did it ever!" Lloyd replied, feeling better than he'd ever felt in his life, "I feel like I'm the next Superman!" he said, feeling his strength and vitality instantly, yet slightly increasing - like the effect eating spinach would have on Popeye the Sailor. "Of course, without the whole flying around, seeing through walls, and having bullets bounce off my chest."

"Wanna try to leap over that spire in a single bound?" Ken teased.

"Funny…" Lloyd replied, amused, yet annoyed, at his new friend's teasing sense of humor. At least, with Ken, Lloyd could tell he really _wasn't_ being malicious.

Heading to the Magicant Motel for the night, they were willingly forced to share a room (at least it wasn't a bed) - the thing was, it was a two bedroom motel.

Settling down, Lloyd saw something on his bed that caught his attention.

"I don't believe it." he said, after unwrapping the package waiting for him on his bed.

"What is it?" Ken asked, curious.

"It's my stuff…" Lloyd said, misty eyed.

In the package was Lloyd's favorite and most prized possessions - aside from the book on Einstein's Theory of Relativity, (which, though some would dispute, Lloyd always thought he was the reincarnation of the famed physicist) were his Superman statuette (he also saw a lot of Clark Kent in himself) and the stand to his Pan-American Concentration Convention - Boy's Division Championship Trophy that he'd won for mastering the memory-based card game. (However, he was more grateful that the trophy was made of copper, which he'd melted down for a past experiment.) There was even a fully functioning Apple Macintosh home computer in the corner of the room, fully loaded with Lloyd's favorite computer games. Even his favorite old toy space gun and the first toy tool set his mother had given him that she didn't confiscate were included. Those seemingly insignificant, some would say immature items alone almost choked him up - he'd lost his mom quite some time ago, who was the glue that really held their small family together, and his dad was too much of a busybody in his own lab - if it weren't for her, (though there was no malice between her two boys) father and son rarely if ever interacted…

"You OK, Lloyd?" Ken asked

"Yeah, I'm fine." Lloyd replied.

"You sure?"

"Yeah… Just got something in my eye, is all."

"I see." Ken replied, deciding to leave the subject at that.

"Hey, what's in your's?" Lloyd asked.

"Huh?" Ken replied, "Hey, I didn't notice that there."

Opening the other package, Ken saw the one possession he couldn't take with him, the electric guitar his father gave him. True, he couldn't play it very well, it was something he liked doing after the World Series wrapped up.

"I didn't think Christmas was for another 146 days." Lloyd said, sarcastically, yet to the point.

"I guess Queen Mary wants this to be some sort of home away from home - a Fortress of Solitude if you will."

"Who?" Lloyd asked.

"Queen Mary. She's the ruler of Magicant." Ken explained, "She kinda sent me on this quest to find fragments to this song."

"A song?"

"Yeah… Weird, huh?"

"Somewhat." Lloyd replied, relaxing on his twin bed, "So, what brought you to Merrysville in the first place?"

With that, Ken explained to Lloyd everything that's happened to him so far, not holding back on any of the details - from the poltergeist haunting his house (which Lloyd found hard to believe), his experience in Podunk and the cemetery, his little canary friend, to helping clear out the zoo from an alien robot (which Lloyd found even harder to believe), up until he first discovered Magicant.

"What's with the baseball?" Lloyd asked, noticing Ken absentmindedly tossing it up into the air and catching it, as he laid on his rented bed.

With a smile on his face, Ken started - "Few years back, Dad took all of us to Japan for a business trip/vacation. While mom went shopping with my sisters, Dad took me to see a Tokyo Giants baseball game." He laughs, "I can't believe I once thought the Tokyo Giants were the San Francisco Giant's sister team."

"I take it they aren't?" Lloyd asked, honestly asked.

"Are you kidding?" Ken asked.

"I'm sorry - I'm not much into athletics; PE's my least favorite class, by the way."

"Aw, it's no big deal." Ken replied before he continued, "Anyway, by chance my seat was next to Shigeo Nagashima. He was kind enough to give me his autograph for being the first American to ever really recognize him."

"You're lucky…" Lloyd replied.

"Why's that?"

"Well… long story short, my mother died about five years ago, so it's just been my father and myself."

"I-I'm sorry…" Ken replied. Usually, he'd complain about his dad not being home enough, but he usually kept those comments to himself.

"Don't be…" Lloyd replied, "It was nothing that could've been helped. Somehow, she got pneumonia and just… Well, since then, Dad's pretty much locks himself up in his lab, when he isn't out of town."

"I…" Ken replied again, trying to comfort his friend the best he could.

"I said, save it!" Lloyd snapped back, tearing up.

Seeing he couldn't do anything more, Ken turned out the light and turned in. While Ken slept though, Lloyd modified the toy gun into an actual weapon - if what Ken said was true, he'd need something to use in case they got into any serious altercations…

After enjoying some complimentary, catered room service for breakfast, Ken (who'd savagely wolfed down his plate full of pan sausage and cheese omelets like there was no tomorrow) and Lloyd made it to Magicant's Valley of One-Hundred Wells, which eventually led them both back to Merrysville.

Stepping foot inside town, however, the boys were practically ambushed by a random poll taker.

"Excuse me, young man," the strange woman asked Ken, "could you answer this questionnaire?"

"Okay…" Ken replied.

"Do you think that train tickets are too expensive?"

"I guess…"

"Have you ever used a bullhorn?"

"Not really…"

"Thank you for your cooperation." the lady replied, "In exchange for your time, this phone card is for you. Use it at any payphone anywhere in the country and all your calls will be for free, no matter the distance."

"Wow, thanks." Ken replied as the lady left.

"That was weird." Lloyd mentioned.

"Yeah, but at least now all of our phone calls'll free." Using that payphone to call home from Merrysville the other day really put a strain on his bank account. But at least his dad was giving him a daily allowance with no strings attached.

"Yeah, there's that." Lloyd concluded as they headed out the other end of town along the practically abandoned railway tracks, until an eighteen-wheeler drove by, billowing out its thick, tar black smoke - Ken's worst nightmare come to life.

"Ken?" Lloyd asked, "What's wrong?" starting to get worried when he noticed Ken was struggling to breathe. When all Ken could do was heave an unintelligible reply, it didn't take long for Lloyd to figure out what was wrong. "Oh, no… You have asthma?" Hastily digging through Ken's belongings, Lloyd quickly found Ken's inhaler. Handing it to him, Ken's latest attack was quickly tended to.

"Thanks…" Ken said, relieved.

"We'll have to find another way around the mountain, though." Lloyd said, "That rockslide's blocked off our main route."

"What about that factory near here that had this rocket…"

"Duncan's Factory?" Lloyd asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Yeah, that's it!"

"It's worth a shot."

"Do you know where it is?"

"It's not too far from here." Lloyd replied, leading Ken to the abandoned factory. Along the way, though, Ken found an abandoned employee's pass. Thinking they'd need it to get in, he discreetly pocketed it.

When they finally made it to the factory, they saw it was guarded by an old, snarling dog, which had obviously been staying there since the factory had shut down. As it growled, Ken cautiously approached the canine, using his telepathy to communicate with the animal.

"This factory is Mr. Duncan's private property." Ken felt the dog saying, baring what was left of its fangs, "Unless you have a pass, I can't let you enter."

"Sure, boy." Ken replied, slowly removing it from his pocket, "Here it is."

Looking it over, the dog got even more enraged, "This pass has expired. You must have stolen it!" Getting ready to attack, "Suspicious creature. Look me in the eye!" - to a dog, that's like _the _ultimate sign of aggression.

Even Ken's telepathy couldn't convince the dog that the pass was really his, which would've at least allowed Lloyd to enter as a guest, the dog immediately attacked. As Ken's reflexes kicked in, one hit with his baseball bat to the leaping dog's side was all it took to knock the old pooch out as it landed nearby, no longer showing any signs of life as soon as it hit the ground. Shaken by his act of self-defense, Lloyd had to lead Ken inside the factory.

Crumbling up some bread they'd saved from breakfast, Lloyd started dropping them inside the building to make a quick trail to follow back to the exit, if they needed it. Entering the building, both boys were surprised at how huge the old factory really was. Deciding it'd be best to stick together as opposed to splitting up, they scanned the area, deciding on which pathway to go.

"You're a psychic, aren't you?" Lloyd asked, "Which way do we go?"

"I thought you didn't believe in such things." Ken replied, "Besides, I'm not that type of psychic."

"You mean there's more than one kind?"

"I guess…" Ken replied.

"One thing's for sure…" Lloyd said, "that rocket of their's must be on the roof."

"Yeah," Ken replied, "The trick is getting there."

Taking one of the two random pathways, a walking bomb waddled up to the duo, which put them both on full alert.

When Ken struck the first blow with his bat, the bomb sat off an explosion as soon as it recovered, one which both Ken and Lloyd were lucky to survive. Lloyd, with what he had left, shot at the thing with his modified laser gun, only to have Ken finish it off with his bat, leaving behind a useable bomb, which Lloyd took with him.

Feeling like Hell, Ken used his powers to restore his and his friend's health, just far enough for them to keep going.

"Thanks…" Lloyd said, struggling.

"No problem." Ken replied as they pushed on to the remaining levels.

On the next floor, an old scientist and his scrappy robot companion both confronted the boys.

"What're you two doing here!" the scientist, (according to the tag on his shirt) Dr. Distorto and his robot, Scrapper, attacked before a suitable answer could be given. Laying hard on Lloyd, Ken's bat swung in retaliation. Staggering back, Lloyd activated the bomb he'd acquired and threw it at the human/robot duo as the robot was getting ready to attack - the resulting explosion knocked the old scientist out, but at least he was still alive (for the time being, anyway.) As Ken focused on the robot, it tried in vain to avenge its unconscious master by attacking Lloyd, but a defensive shot with his ray gun must've hit something, because the robot started sparking before it eventually deactivated, no longer posing a threat.

Sighing over their latest victory, Ken decided to check on the old scientist after seething his bat.

"Sir?" he asked, shaking the old man back into consciousness, "Are you alright?"

"I…" the old man stirred, "Where am I? Who're you?" he asked, disoriented.

"Apparently that blast restored the old man to his senses." Lloyd observed.

"What am I doing here?" the old man asked further.

"Don't worry, sir." Ken said, "We'll get you to a doctor."

"A doctor…" the old man replied, "Yes… that sounds nice… but no…"

"But, sir…" Lloyd said.

"Save it, Lloyd!" Ken said to him, "Other than his mental state, he's fine."

Nodding, the boys continued with their zig-zag pathway up to the factory's top floor.

Nearing the top, the two were attacked by a more intact security droid, who didn't recognize either Ken or Lloyd as anyone who was supposed to be in the factory. As it prepared to attack, Ken and Lloyd each attacked first. Missing Ken, who dodged the robot's blow, Ken deactivated the robot with one more swing with his bat, allowing the boys to escape.

Finally making it to the top floor, they had to make a mad dash to the exit, only to be confronted by another bomber robot. Fearing a repeat of the last time, Lloyd, feeling bold for some reason, was ready to draw, but Ken stopped him.

"What're you doing?" Lloyd asked, albeit nonverbally.

"Just watch…" Ken silently replied. Placing his fingers to his forehead, and concentrating at the utmost, Ken tore a hole in the dimensional wall separating the third and the forth, forcing the bomber robot to be swallowed up, allowing the two boys to make a quick escape as the hole closed up.

"What was that!" Lloyd asked, stunned.

"Something that I didn't know I could even do until after we beat that last robot." Ken solemnly replied.

"What'd you do?"

"Send it to the fourth dimension."

"How…" Lloyd replied, before saying, "On second thought, I probably don't want to know."

"Suit yourself." Ken said as the two made their way to the rooftop, which held the factory's rockets - most of which were still on their launch pad.

"It looks like these things are still able to be activated." Lloyd said, checking them out. "Setting target coordinate locks on that rock slide…" Lloyd said, after he managed to turn the aged computer systems back on after decades of non-use, setting up the rocket's targeting coordinates, "OK! 3-2-1-FIRE!" With that, the aged rocket sprang to life as it headed straight for its mark.

"Bulls eye!" Ken exclaimed, looking through a nearby telescope at the target, seeing the rocket had hit its mark to the pin point, obliterating the rock slide, allowing the two young friends to head towards their next destination, wherever that may be…


	6. Is a Friend Indeed

**VI**

…_is a Friend Indeed_

Arriving at the Union Train Station outside of Merrysville, Ken and Lloyd each bought a ticket to the town of Reindeer.

Before boarding the train, one of the station's other occupants was barricading himself into a corner.

"What're you doing?" Ken asked, bewildered.

"I heard on the radio it's a mess everywhere." the man said, not missing a beat, "At all costs, I will protect this station."

"O-kay…" Ken said, miming "lunatic" with his finger circling the temple his forehead, making Lloyd snicker as they made their way to the ticket counter.

"By the way, it's on me." Ken said.

"Fine by me. I don't have that much money, anyway."

"Well, I don't know how far the train will go, though." the ticket taker said through the grated window as the boys approached, "But you'll still need a ticket to ride."

Seeing they had a choice between Reindeer, Spookane, and Snowman, Ken said, "Two for Reindeer."

"That'll be $32." the man said as Ken put the money on the table, "Thank you. The train's ready to leave.

"**All Aboard To Reindeer!**" a voice over the loudspeaker said as the boys rushed to their car.

Along the way, the boys enjoyed their ride on one of the best passenger trains America still had to offer - a streamlined bullet train imported car-by-car straight from Japan. Publicity reports state that this particular train could reach speeds of nearly 300mph.

"By the way, Ken." Lloyd asked, enjoying a soda, "I wonder why they didn't stop us for being too young to ride alone."

That's when Ken smirked, tapping his forehead temple, smirking.

"Oh…" Lloyd replied, getting the idea.

"**Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at the Reindeer Station!**" a voice over the train's intercom announced as the massive vehicle came to an abrupt halt, "**All who are getting off, please exit the train in an orderly fashion! He hope you've enjoyed your ride with Union Train Lines, and we hope you'll all ride with us again soon! Thank you, and have a nice day!**" the loudspeaker announced.

"Wow…" Lloyd said, looking over his watch, "I didn't think we'd arrive so soon."

"Whata ya mean?"

"Normally, it takes half a **day** to get from Merrysville to Reindeer."

Ken shrugged as he and Lloyd left the train car and entered the station. There, an elderly lady was begging a favor from any kind stranger who'd lend her an ear.

"Are you two going to Snowman?" she asked, approaching the boys.

"We can." Ken replied, while Lloyd looked at him in shocked silence.

"But we just got…" Lloyd tried to say, before Ken silenced him.

"I found this hat." the elderly lady said, "I believe it might be the property of a girl who lives there. Please take it to her." She handed the boys a pink colored lady's sun hat and left.

"Ken!" Lloyd said, "We just…"

"Two for Snowman." Ken said to the ticket seller.

"Ken, will you listen to me?" Lloyd pleaded.

"That'll be $40." the ticket seller said, exchanging the tickets for the money Ken handed him.

"Here's yours." Ken said. "By the way, were you saying something?"

"Nothing…" Lloyd replied, frustrated, "Just… let's go."

Taking the next available train to Snowman, passing the Spookane station along the way, the boys were off again to the northern village, where it's said that it's literally winter all year 'round. In fact, the hottest summer day you'll ever find there would average around 59*.

"Who'd wear a hat like this in a place so cold?" Ken asked, shivering, feeling like he was about to freeze to the bone.

Making their way to the small mountain village of less than one-hundred people, which was a good five-to-fifteen mile trek from the nearest train depot, they were attacked by, of all things, Bigfoot.

Missing a swing from Ken's bat, Bigfoot started a blizzard-like attack, severely damaging Ken, while the beast even avoided getting shot at by Lloyd's gun. Putting all he had into another swing, Ken nearly cracked his bat over the oversized man-ape-thing, while Bigfoot started another blizzard, bringing Ken to the point of death. Unfortunately, Bigfoot dodged another of Lloyd's gunshots. Finally, Ken took another swing with his bat - this time, however, Bigfoot figured this side of meat wasn't worth it, so it decided to withdraw back into the snowcapped landscape.

"Ken!" Lloyd yelled, worried about his friend, seeing the condition he was in. The real downside of living in Snowman was the lack of any efficient medical care - any major health issues had to be life flown to the nearest hospital, a good two-to-three hours away by air - and by then, it was (usually) far too late - you'd be lucky if the doctors could save you once you got to them.

"I'll be fine." Ken replied, applying his psychic healing spells, returning to as good as new in hardly no time, or at least well enough to make the rest of the trip. As a pack of snow wolves menacingly approached the duo, hoping for free human flesh for their pack's next meal, Ken put his "fourth-dimension slip" technique into overdrive getting rid of them.

Approaching the snowcapped village, the boys asked around about who the hat actually belonged to. Most people they stopped that'd actually talk to them thought the hat belonged to a young girl that lived in the Snowman Chateau, the town's local chapel. Stepping inside, the boys saw a minister rehearsing his sermon while his daughter, who from behind appeared to be around Ken's age, looked on as an audience.

"Don't be shy, boys." the minister told them, "You're both welcomed to sit in."

"Thank you." Ken replied as they both took the kind man up on his offer, each taking a seat on an empty pew behind the young, blonde girl.

Without turning her head, she abruptly told them, "You have appeared. Just like in my dream."

"Excuse me?" Ken asked, confused.

Both boys didn't notice that the minister had stopped his sermon, as he started eying both boys from the pulpit, his face wearing a similar distressed expression Ken's mother wore when Ken had left her.

"The boy in my dream looked just like you." she solemnly replied, yet in the most serene, angelic voice a thirteen year-old girl could possess.

"Congratulations, Ken." Lloyd teased, "You're famous."

"Quiet!" Ken told Lloyd in a demanding, yet hushed tone. Then, grabbing the hat, "I think this belongs to you."

Though joyous, her expression barely changes. "You are Ken, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. But…" he replied.

"I must go on a trip to find my mom, and…" the girl said, interrupting him, finally looking at him, almost pleading with him, "I needed your help… I've been waiting so long for you, Ken." Her tone changing to a slightly more demanding one, "But, first we need to see what's happening in Youngtown." Her stunning looks (for a thirteen year-old) alone were enough to silence both boys as she left her seat.

"Now, wait a minute…" Ken protested, finally regaining his senses.

"Goodbye, Daddy…" she said, approaching her father while ignoring Ken, "Next time, Mommy will come back with me!" Hugging him, she said, "Believe in us."

"I said, 'wait a minute'!" Ken yelled, hoping for his voice to finally be heard, let alone to be listened to, avoiding the urge to restrain her, "Just who are you, anyway?"

"My name's Anna." she sternly replied, lightly poking her rose color, nail painted index finger into Ken's upper chest, "And, like it or not, I'm joining you two on your little adventure." No one, especially a boy (she'd admit as handsome as he was) talked to her like that…

"I don't mean to sound sexist or anything, but…" Lloyd starting to say, joining the conversation between the two warring teenagers, before both boys saw the girl's matching handbag fly past him from behind and land effortlessly in her hands.

"How in…?" Lloyd asked, shocked.

"You're not the only one with special powers, Ken." she replied, wearing a smug smile, slyly winking.

"Wow…" Ken thought out loud, before asking, "Wait! How'd you…?"

"The best way I can describe it is as kind of a 'psychic radar.'" Anna replied, in an 'as a matter of fact' type of tone, "I could tell you had special powers, but I couldn't tell, exactly, who you were." she replied, sashaying past both boys as she made her way to the chapel's doors, and without blinking an eye, she floated her Bible to her as she walked by. Stopping, she asked, without even turning her head, "Well? Aren't you two coming?"

"What a woman…" Ken thought, "Either I'm going to kill her, or I'm beginning to like her." All of a sudden, aside from the cracking voice and being covered with acne, he couldn't wait to (officially) hit puberty.

Before the boys left, though, Anna's father placed his hands on both both of their shoulders, turning them around to face him in the eye. "I can't help but worry about her." he said, "Just please, take care of her."

"Don't worry." Ken replied, "We won't let anything bad happen to her."

"See that you two don't." her father replied, "Since her mother disappeared, she's all I have left." As they approached the door, "Oh, and boys?" he continued, getting both Ken and Lloyd's attention, glaring at them "If I find out that you two did _anything_ to her, I'll gladly forget the fact that I'm a minister and do something I'll, eventually, regret… Understand?"

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Yes, sir." both boys replied, trembling as they stammered.

"Good." the pastor said, returning to his "Mr. Rogers"-like persona, "You two may leave now. I'm sure Anna's waiting for you, and it's best not to keep her waiting."

"Hey, Anna!" Ken shouted as he and Lloyd stepped outside, immediately running up to her.

"I was wondering when you boys would show up." she said.

"Athletics aren't really my strong suit." Lloyd replied, huffing and puffing - the winter air does nothing to alleviate this.

"Before we head to Youngtown," Ken said, fishing around in his bag, "we have to make a little pit stop."

"What? Where?" she asked, not liking the idea, as Ken grabbed her hand, (shocking Anna) as Lloyd instinctively grabbed onto Ken's shoulder, knowing what was about to happen, as he raised the Onyx Hook to the sky as they were immediately transported to the mystical realm of Magicant. Once there, Anna was just as surprised as the boys were when they first laid eyes on that magical realm.

"What _is_ this place?" Anna asked, not sure _what_ to think.

"It's kind of like Oz and Wonderland put together." Ken replied, as the boys walked off.

"Hey, wait up!" she yelled, catching up to them.

Traveling in the westernmost forest of Magicant, the party found another swimming cat, swimming inside the realm's cloudy ground.

"Guys! Do you see what I see?" Anna asked, not believing her eyes.

"Here, there are surprises around every corner." Ken said, "But nothing here is _too_ dangerous."

"Guess what's in my paw." the cat requested, swimming up to the young trio.

Jumping the gun, Anna used her own telepathy to reveal the cat was hiding a magical hair ribbon. Overjoyed, she immediately applied it to her hair the second the floating feline handed it over.

"*tee hee* Thank you, Ken," Anna abruptly said, "but flattery will get you nowhere."

"What're you talking about?" Ken asked, confused, but with an idea about what she was talking about.

"Don't forget, I can read minds, too." she said, "And that goes double for you too, Lloyd." causing them both to blush, knowing they'd been caught. Still, all they thought was that she looked better with the ribbon on and the hat off, and her hair down.

Checking into the motel, the three were relaxing in the boys' rented bedroom…

"So, since we're going to be traveling together…" Anna says, with a somewhat mischievous gleam in her eye.

"Yes…?" Ken asked, apprehensively. This girl was, somehow, able to effortlessly hide her thoughts from him.

"We might as well get to know one another a little better."

"Aren't we a little bit too young for that kind of thing?" Lloyd asked, jumping to conclusions.

"Ugh… Gag me!" Anna replied.

"Dude, what the frick?" Ken replied, "You know, for a genius, sometimes you can be such an airhead."

"Sorry…" he replied, embarrassed as he got the idea that was _**not**_ what Anna had in mind.

"Anyway…" Ken said, getting the idea, "Why don't you start the ball rolling by telling us about _yourself_?"

"Me?" Anna asked, surprised.

"Yeah, it was your idea."

"Besides, ladies first?" Lloyd added.

Sighing, Anna knew she wasn't going to get anywhere with these two. "OK, boys, you win - this time." Then, starting her impromptu monologue, "I was born on a snowy night just before Christmas Eve of '77. My mom always told me that the church bells rang twice to announce my birth. Strange, since the whole town knew it wasn't because Daddy had misread the Advent calendar. That year, Christmas fell on that following Sunday. He told the congregation the previous week at the end of the service to listen for the bells to announce my birth - once for a boy, twice for a girl. Naturally, the gossip was already brewing by the next morning. We were lucky a traveling doctor was staying in the area."

"Yeah, we've noticed Snowman doesn't have an actual hospital." Lloyd stated.

"We didn't even have a makeshift clinic until 1980."

"That's crazy." Ken responded.

"I know, but with a town of less than 100 people, what can you do?" she asked, "Anyway, I grew up listening to church hymns, and no, I'm not a member of the God Squad - they make all of us look bad."

"I didn't think you were…" Ken replied, somewhat defensive.

"Neither did I…" Lloyd added, somewhat fearing her wrath.

Sighing, Anna continued, "I know. Even though you guys weren't thinking that, I've become so used to that assumption that I naturally respond."

"Hey, we all have faults." Ken assured her.

"Yeah," Lloyd said, "Ken here has the worst case of asthma you'll ever see."

Turing beat red, Ken jabbed Lloyd in the side. "Lloyd!" he sneered, ready to pound into his younger friend for letting that fact out.

Giggling at the spectacle, "Thanks, guys." she replied, smiling. At least that stopped Ken's tirade, just long enough for Lloyd to readjust himself. "Oh well…" she thought, having dealt with children before, "Boys _will_ be boys… no matter _how_ old they get."

"Anyway," she continued, "before I was five, I became talented at the organ and piano." she snickers, "In fact, on my first day of school, the teacher asked us to write a composition and I asked if it was OK if I composed it on the piano."

The boys couldn't help but laugh.

"I know, right?" she asked, laughing along with them.

Calming down enough to talk, Ken asked, "So when did you first become aware of your powers?"

Sitting further back in the chair, taking an even more relaxed posture, "I've always been somewhat aware of them, but the first time I'd ever used them was when I faked a fever to avoid going to school."

Sarcastically faking shock, "No…? You? Skip school?" Ken asked, "I had no idea you were so devious."

"Oh, shut up…" Anna jokingly replied, using her telekinetic powers to toss something small and random at him, not really trying to make contact. Still, he managed to dodge the pillow projectile, "Anyway, it was the day we were doing frog dissections in school."

"I'm actually looking forward to that…" Lloyd replied.

This left Anna somewhat shocked, her face saying what she wished her mouth could, until Ken came to his bro's defense, "You gotta excuse him - science is his life."

"It's not that I wouldn't touch the slimy creature, or anything like that." Anna explained, "But I was more worried about the frogs themselves."

"You mean, they were alive?" Ken asked.

Nodding her head, yes, she continued, "So that day, I skipped school, faking a fever. The next day, the hot topic around campus was "The Frogs' Great Escape" - Naturally, I was thrilled."

"You didn't…" Ken replied, smiling. When he got one back in return, confessing her guilt, "I knew it!"

"Anyway, to recover from my gleeful, guilty shock, I snuck into the music room and practiced some Mozart. Before long, my friends were gathered at the door and were asking for requests - mainly songs from Catherine Warwick. Naturally, the teacher had to step behind them and spoil the fun and send us back to class."

"That afternoon, I was walking home from school when I heard someone say that they owed me. To my surprise, it was coming from one of the escaped frogs. After I composed myself, I told it I wouldn't be responsible the next time it got caught. After that, I ran home, and since then, I've been practicing in secret. Until my mother disappeared…" she concluded, tearing up.

"I'm sorry…" Lloyd was the first to reply, "I'm somewhat of an orphan, myself." That's when the other two's attention turned to him, "My mom's dead and I haven't really seen my dad lately…"

"I guess I'm lucky." Ken sorrowfully replied, "Most of the time, it's just me, my mom, and my two twin sisters. My dad's constantly on the road on business across country, or even across the globe - when he actually does come home, he usually arrives after we're all asleep and leaves before we all get up - sometimes, I don't know how Mom puts up with it."

Lloyd was going to say something, but after what happened the last time, he decided to keep his mouth shut, whether they could read his mind or not.

With that, the boys told Anna their stories, and how they eventually crossed paths. Before long, the desire to sleep was finally overcoming them, and Anna left the boys to her more private motel room located next door. (Convenient, since the hotel only had _two_ full rooms…)

Entering her sleeping quarters, Anna was astonished at the private sanctuary she'd entered - a king sized bed, where her most prized possessions (or clever copies thereof) were waiting for her on top of the plush pink comforter - one of her most all time favorite books, (aside from the Bible she always took with her) The Little Prince, was waiting for her on the feather soft pillow. Whoever had decorated this room for her had also collected the rest of her collection of varied hair ribbons too, which she could now add the one she'd received from that cat. (Normally she wears her hat only for special occasions - the rest of the time, she just ties her hair back with the first ribbon she randomly grabs from that old coffee can.) She even had an old candy tin full of used postage stamps. None of them were really rare, or anything, but they usually went well with her envelope collection. To explain her weird hobby - to her, writing letters was something of a special activity to her, and it was also a bit more personal (and quite a bit less expensive, too) than making a phone call, especially when she wrote to Yoshie, her pen pal from Japan. Sometimes, at least for her, choosing the right stationary/envelope/stamp combination took more time than writing the actual letter. Also, on the dresser, was a phonograph with a 45" single of Akiko Yano's "I'm Home" (a gift from Yoshie) ready to be played. True, she couldn't understand a word of the song's lyrics, but she always felt comfortable after a bad day at school just listening to its soothing piano melody. Playing the record, she hoped it didn't disturb the two boys sleeping next door.

Joining them for a catered breakfast (after she was fully dressed, of course) they all checked out and followed Ken back to the Valley of Wells, returning, once again, to that cave near Merrysville.

Heading back to the Union Train Station, they were finally getting around to Anna's "request" to head to Youngtown - however, she remained tightlipped about _why_ she wanted to go there at all. Ken's telepathy was of no use to him when it came of getting any information from her, since (when it came to mental powers) _she _was the stronger of the two pre-teenaged psychics, and she was more than willing to flaunt that little fact. However, for these three kids to even think about getting to Youngtown, they had to go through the eerie town of Spookane…


	7. The Legend of Spookane's Haunted Mansion

**VII**

_The Legend of Spookane's Haunted Mansion_

Taking the train out of Merrysville once more, each paying $25 for separate tickets, the trio arrive in the eerie village of Spookane, a town situated somewhere between the towns of Reindeer and Snowman. One thing that separated Spookane, aside from living up to its name, was that it was separated into two halves - one to the north and the other to the south. The southern, practically abandoned portion would prove to be the most dangerous of the two.

Leaving the station, both Ken and Anna could sense something was up… Not only was the southern part of town abandoned, but various wild and vicious animals were roaming the streets.

"Look out!" Anna yelled, as the gang was ambushed by a wild cougar. Ken barely missed being mauled at by the jungle cat's massive claws, but a heavy swing from Ken's bat sent the overgrown cat flying, convincing it to retreat to the mountainous regions surrounding the town after it recovered from its harsh landing.

"That was close." Ken replied, walking off as he failed to notice a blushing, breathless Anna.

"Hey…" Lloyd said, snapping her out of it, "You OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." she replied.

"You sure?" Lloyd asked, pressing further.

"Positive." Anna replied, catching up to Ken.

"If only girls acted that way around me…" Lloyd said to himself as he followed suit.

Stepping inside a local hotel, the kids were slightly suspicious that there was still a room clerk in a seemingly abandoned lobby, which appeared to have been in a state of total disrepair.

"Welcome." the clerk said, with a blank look to his face, as if he was going on autopilot, "That'll be $12 for a night. Care to stay?"

Ken agreed, ignoring the age old saying about things being too good to be true. Then again, $12 for a room per person sounded about right.

"Sleep tight. And don't let the bed bugs bite." the clerk said, letting out a bone chilling laugh as the kids ascended the stairs to their rooms on the top floor.

"That guy was kinda weird." Anna noted.

"Yeah…" Ken replied, "Almost like I've seen that guy somewhere."

"Let's just relax, guys." Lloyd said, "We're gonna need all we have and more if we want to get to Youngtown soon."

"You're right." Anna replied, "I'll see you boys in the morning. Good night."

"Night." the boys replied as she left.

The only thing the trio really didn't like about this hotel was that the beds were nowhere near as comfortable as the ones in Magicant.

Giving the keys to their rooms back to the desk clerk, the guy grinned as its body disintegrated, revealing a Starman robot.

Instinctively jumping in front of his two friends, Ken had his bat at the ready like a sword ready for the first strike. Getting a heavy swing in, the Starman fired a psychic beam at Ken, which was hardly anywhere near as damaging as the strike Ken gave it. Unaware to Ken, though, Anna shot a blizzard spell at it, freezing the alien robot before it shattered into numerous, unrecognizable fragments.

"What _was_ that?" Lloyd asked.

"I don't know." Ken replied, "But I faced one like it at the zoo in Podunk."

"You mean there's more than one of those things?" Anna asked.

"After I left home," Ken explained, "the Mayor of Podunk had me run a couple of… errands. Saving a girl from a zombie infested cemetery and settling down some animals that were running amok at the local zoo - that's where I faced the first Starman."

"A girl…?" Anna asked, with a vague hint of protective jealousy in her voice.

"Yeah…" Ken replied, "Nothing happened, though."

"Thank God." Anna said, under her breath.

"You say something?" Ken asked.

"Nothing…" she replied, giggling.

"Let's go, guys." Lloyd said, "Before that thing sends for any reinforcements."

"I think that thing might've had something to do with my mother's disappearance." Anna said, "I just pray we find her - alive…"

"I'm sure we will, Anna." Ken said, getting her to smile.

Exploring the safer, northern part of New Spookane, while mingling with a few of the townspeople, one woman told them, "I don't like that Rosemary girl."

"Who's Rosemary?" Lloyd asked.

"The owners of that haunted house were the Rosemarys." she said, "I'm not a resident of this town. I am your assistant."

"Assistant?" Ken asked. To the outside world, people from Spookane had a reputation of being a little bit _too_ weird.

"Maybe you forgot to write something down." she said, "For $1,000, I'll tell you all you need to know."

"No thanks." Ken replied, after the woman revealed her true colors.

"Oh, you don't need anyone's help, do you?" she said, miffed, "Fine and dandy, then. You can color me gone." With that, she disappeared in a flash, as if she was never really there to begin with.

"W-Where'd she go?" Lloyd asked.

"I'm not picking up anything." Ken replied, as he and Anna combined their telepathic skills, amplifying each other's natural ability to (mentally) search for the mysterious woman.

"That's weird." Anna replied, giving up, "That's never happened to me before."

"Whoever she was, I think we'll find our answers in that haunted house." Ken added, calling the mental searching party quits as well.

"Do we have to?" Lloyd replied, expressing his fear of the unknown and the unexplainable.

Before the other two could urge Lloyd on, another woman came up to them, as mysteriously as the other one had vanished.

"Excuse me," she asked, "But did you say you three were going to that haunted house?"

"Yes, we were." Anna replied.

"Oh, you are such a charming and daring group…" she said, "Just looking at you three makes me feel more confident."

"Thank you." Ken replied, somewhat flattered as he spoke for the group.

"I'm sure you three will bring that house under control." she said, "Here's the key." She handed it to them and walked away. At least she didn't disappear into thin air, too.

"Whatever's wrong with that house…" Lloyd said.

"Don't… say it." Anna warned, putting her finger over his mouth to silence him.

"If you really are going." the woman said, returning for one more request.

"Yes?" Ken asked, anticipating the worst.

"There were some false gold teeth left in that mansion." the lady asked, "Could you retrieve them?"

"Yeah, sure…" Ken replied, speaking for the team, "…no problem."

"Thank you, young man." the lady replied, "Thank you all…"

Along the way to the house, they ran into, what appeared to be, the guards to the mansion - two miniature, self-controlled flying saucers and a thin bodied robot.

"Looks like we'll have to get through them." Ken said, as he and his friends got into position.

Getting a good swing in with his bat at one of the flying saucers, Ken managed to destroy it with one smash, while the "barbot" punched back at Ken, which he'd barely felt. Even the other flying saucer's attack of slicing past him was barely noticeable. Still, the barbot withstood Lloyd's gunshot, while the remaining saucer evaded Anna's psychic beam.

While the saucer evaded Anna's beam, though, it didn't miss being struck by Ken's bat, which permanently disabled it. Still, the barbot focused its weak attacks on Ken. Still, another shot from Lloyd was enough to destroy the barbot, allowing the kids to proceed.

As Ken walked off, though, Lloyd pulled him aside.

"What?" Ken asked, annoyed.

"Why didn't you just send them all to the fourth dimension?"

"I don't know!" Ken replied.

"Do what?" Anna asked, confused.

"Before we left Merrysville, _he_…" Lloyd explained, indicating Ken, "…sent some walking bomb into the fourth dimension."

"I probably don't want to know about that part…" Anna said, referring to the bomb. "But what about sending that thing to the fourth dimension? What was that all about?"

"I… have this quick escape technique that sends our enemies into the fourth dimension." Ken explained.

"Wow…" Anna said, almost euphoric, feeling attracted to the psychic over the fact he could do something she had no idea was even possible, "I wish I could do that. You'll have to teach me how to do that, sometime." Then, returning to normal, "But why didn't you use that technique against that robot in the hotel?"

"I don't know… I just, somehow, felt that the robot was far too strong to get sucked in." Ken explained, "Yeah, the move's effective, but it's not 100% foolproof."

"Fair enough…" Anna said, disappointed, as she and her guyfriends continued onto the, supposedly, haunted house.

Coming across a handmade sign, it read, as clear as the daylight that barely surrounded them…

"**PRIVATE PROPERTY!"**

"_- The Rosemarys_"

"Well, what do you know? It's off limits, let's go." Lloyd said, as Ken and Anna kept him from turning around.

"What's with you, Lloyd?" Ken asked.

"We're in this together." Anna pleaded.

"Nothing, it's just…" Lloyd struggled to explain. Seeing he couldn't, and knowing his two friends wouldn't let him take the more sensible option of turning back, Ken and Anna literally dragged him into the abandoned, possibly haunted mansion.

Approaching it, Ken inserted the old, rusting key into the latch, unlocking the doors after years of non-use; opening them, the hinges let out a screech loud enough that even a whole can of the strongest WD-40 couldn't fix it. Already, the place was giving off an eerie aura to it as they stepped inside the supposedly empty house. Still, the only inhabitant in the entire crumbling mansion was a lone mouse scurrying around the room.

"Hey, little guy…" Ken said, telepathically, cautiously approaching the small rodent.

"HUMAN!" the mouse squealed, running off.

"Wait!" Anna pleaded, "We won't hurt you!"

"Please don't hurt me." the mouse pleaded, "I'm just an ordinary mouse. That room…"

"What room?" Ken asked, almost as if he was interrogating the small rodent.

"The room… with the piano…" the mouse said, "That's all I know!"

"A piano?" Ken asked, as the mouse made its escape. Anna and Lloyd didn't have any answers, either. Seeing the room they were in had two possible doors, supposedly each leading into separate pathways needed to progress through the mansion, Lloyd asked, "Which one do we take?"

"I thought you were too scared to even come here." Ken teased.

"Hey! The sooner we find what we're looking for, the sooner we can leave!" Lloyd snapped back, "Now, which door do we take?"

"That's easy!" Anna replied, doing the "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" routine. Seeing this, Ken face palmed and Lloyd almost fainted. "What? That's what usually works…" she replied, defensive as she indicated the right door.

"Next time, we'll just flip a coin." Ken replied, getting a 'why I've never…' gasp/gesture from Anna.

In the next room, the team noticed covered furniture.

"I wouldn't be surprised those sheets turn into ghosts." Ken said.

"Don't say that!" Lloyd snapped back.

"What?" Anna teased, "Are you scared?"

"ME? Well, I…" Lloyd stuttered a reply, getting a snicker from his two friends. "HEY!" he replied, offended, "If I wanted that, I'd stay at Twinkle Elementary!"

"I'm sorry, Lloyd." Ken sincerely replied.

"Me, too…" Anna added.

"Come on. Let's see these teeth and go home." Lloyd sneered, walking off.

Taking the second door to the right in the next room they'd entered, the team found themselves in a dark stairwell. There, they were attacked by something… spooky. Two of them to be exact.

"G-g-g-g-ghosts!" Lloyd said, scared and shaking his gun at them as he aimed.

"Well, who ya gonna call?" Anna asked, getting ready.

"The Ghostbusters are too expensive, so we'll have to take these things out ourselves."

Luckily, these ghosts were tangible enough for the kids to use their physical weapons.

As Ken got a good swing at one of the ghosts, it disappeared on impact, defeated, while the second ghost weakly attacked Anna, only to be taken down by a combined attack from Lloyd's pop gun and her cast iron skillet. (What can I say? Even though this _is_ a post-Women's Lib era, what's wrong with a young, strong, liberated women that actually _likes_ to cook? - Besides, after tasting both boys' attempt at cooking, she often wonders just _whose_ side they were really on…)

As the beaten ghosts returned to the netherworld, this voice yelled out to the kids from out of nowhere, taunting them, "You'll never make it…" it bellowed, laughing as it faded away.

Before Lloyd could turn around and leave, the others stopped him - again.

"We've made it this far." Ken said, "We can't turn back now."

"Speak for yourself." Lloyd said.

"Lloyd! Since we've met, have I ever steered you wrong?" Ken asked.

"Not really…" he replied.

"And I'm not doing it now."

"But how…?"

"Lloyd!" Anna said, interrupting him, "Trust me. He's telling the truth."

Sighing, Lloyd told them to lead the way while he kept a safe, yet close enough, distance from the rear.

Entering the next room at the end of the stairway, the team entered a second passageway, leading them further down into the mansion's deeper subterranean levels.

Halfway down this stairway, however, Anna jumped, shrieking. "Lloyd!" she screamed, raising her skillet, ready to bang the living daylights out of him.

"What? I didn't do anything!" he claimed, giving off signs that whatever happened, he was innocent.

"What happened?" Ken asked, concerned.

"Something touched me!"

"It wasn't me, I swear!" Ken responded, getting defensive.

When they heard this laughing as they were confronted by another ghost.

"I think that's your perverted poltergeist, Anna." Ken said, getting ready.

"Take no prisoners, boys." she replied, pissed and ready to do some amateur ghost breaking.

The ghost pulled a sucker punch against Anna, while Ken and Lloyd retaliated with their individual weapons. Anna's attack, surprisingly, did next to nothing against the spook. As she prepared for a psychic beam attack, the ghost attacked Lloyd, though Ken luckily finished off the specter with another heavy swing from behind, returning the wayward spirit to the netherworld.

"T-U-R-N B-A-C-K" another voice warned. Whatever this house seemed to have been guarding, the kids must've been getting close.

Defying the voice's orders, they entered a room with a baby grand piano sitting in the center. Approaching it, the piano started playing by itself. The look on Ken's face when he heard the piano's song spoke volumes - Then, Ken knew it was playing the fourth piece of Queen Mary's melody puzzle.

…_~"And Sweet Harmony"~…_

"Ken? What's wrong?" Anna asked, snapping Ken out of his trance.

"I think we've just found another piece to Queen Mary's song."

"What song?" Anna asked, confused.

"I'll explain later." Ken replied, still with a slightly blank look on his face, "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Now, that's the first intelligent thing I've heard you say since we got here." Lloyd said as all three of them left the haunted mansion behind. Along the way, though, they found that old pair of golden dentures they were sent to find, which Ken had pocketed - they still had to return the key, anyway.

Finding that lady from before, Ken and his friends gave her back the key.

"Those ghosts haven't quite left yet." she said, with a twinge of sorrow in her voice.

"I'm sorry, ma'am." Ken replied.

"So am I." Lloyd added.

"Me, too." Anna concluded with the trio's apologies.

"That's OK." she added, "You're still such a brave boy." centering her attention on Ken, much to the dismay of his two friends. "In fact, my husband and I've even renamed our son after you."

"I'm flattered." Ken replied, choking for a response. All the while, he was trying to avoid his friends' wrath for being given all the credit. "But my friends…"

"My name is Ken Rosemary." the young boy said, introducing himself as he cut the elder Ken off.

"Rosemary?" Lloyd asked as the lady laughed in reply. Still, both Lloyd and Anna were able to calm down, somewhat. It wasn't his fault this crazy lady wouldn't listen.

"Oh, I see you found my husband's dentures." she said.

"These?" Anna asked, handing them to her.

"Yes! Since he lost them, we haven't been able to understand a word he's been saying."

Heading back to the train station, they each bought a ticket for the next available train back to Union Station. It turned out that Spookane was nothing more than a dead end. On the train ride back, however, Anna finally asked, "What about that song?" Being the first to actually talk to him after he begged and pleaded for what seemed like hours for their forgiveness.

"Hmm?" Ken asked.

"That song - the one that piano started playing." Anna went further.

"I know you told me about that, already," Lloyd added, " but I was kind of curious about that myself."

"It's something Queen Mary, Magicant's ruler, asked me to find for her. And she's been so gracious to us; so naturally, I couldn't refuse. Anyway, I've found about half of it so far…" Ken explained, before rummaging through his backpack, grabbing an ocarina he'd obtained in Magicant, "Here's what I've found so far." Playing the beautiful, enchanting melody, up to what that possessed piano was playing.

"That's beautiful." Anna said.

"So where do you find the next fragment?" Lloyd asked.

"I'm not sure…" Ken replied.

"Don't worry." Anna said, placing her hand on his shoulder, "We'll help you look for it."

Smiling, "Thanks, guys."

"What're friends for, anyway?" Anna replied, smiling in return.

Getting off the train, they were dismayed to discover that the line to Youngtown from the Union Station was also cut off by a collapsed bridge. However, to get there from the depot, the kids would have to make it through the vast, blazingly hot, Yucca Desert…


	8. The Orphans of Youngtown

**VIII**

_The Orphans of Youngtown_

Walking past the train station towards the west, heading south from the broken rail bridge, the kids had to go through the vast Yucca Desert if they hope to get to Youngtown.

Immediately, however, they were attacked by a combination of three Omega-Flying Saucers, led by an Ultra Barbot. Almost instantly, knowing he and his friends stood no chance against that particularly powerful enemy combination, Ken opened a rift and sent them all flying into the fourth dimension. But, before they were all sucked in, however, all four enemies seemed to focus all of their attacks on a fleeing Anna - who barely survived before they were finally sucked into the trans-dimensional void.

Shocked to see that she was barely alive, Ken immediately ran to her and used his Life-Up healing spell, which (after she shyly thanked him) she finished off by using a more powerful variation on herself as soon as his back was turned - still, at least as far as Ken was concerned, Anna was more than willing to help her out in times like this, when it was all too clear that she was more than able to do such things for herself…

"No problem…" Ken replied, blushing as they both tried to avoid eye contact with one another, both trying in vain to hide the faint tint of blush on their cheeks.

"Let's go." Lloyd said, pulling his friends out of their mutual trance, "We have quite a bit of ground left to cover if we want to make it to Youngtown."

"Right…" Ken said, taking the lead, as Anna took up the rear. The boys, however, were focused on what lied ahead to notice that Anna had her line of sight focused on the sandy ground - to hide the smile on her face as her thoughts focused solely on the team's "self proclaimed" leader.

Traveling unchallenged for quite some time, the kids came across a lone billboard in the middle of the desert…

"**SEE THE YUCCA DESERT"**

"_Charter Flights Available By Arrangement"_

This got Lloyd excited.

"Can we go, guys?" he asked, almost jumping up and down with excitement, almost like a younger child would do, trying to convince their parents to buy them the latest toy from the storefront window.

"Somehow, I've never pictured you being interested in airplanes." Ken replied.

"Come on, it'll be fun." Anna pleaded, deciding she wanted to go as well.

Seeing he was outnumbered, Ken reluctantly agreed, who still wasn't too keen on the idea.

"Alright!" Lloyd replied as he rushed off to where the billboard said to go.

"Hey! Wait up!" Ken yelled, as he and Anna struggled to catch up. Though they'd faced little opposition since leaving Merrysville, this area was still a hotter than Hell desert climate, (which was especially hard on Anna, who grew up in the snowcapped mountainous region of Snowman) they were still pretty worn…

Near a small oasis, an elderly pilot, dressed in full World War I regalia, was polishing his vintage biplane.

"Sir?" Ken asked, startling the old man back to reality as Lloyd admired the old man's Panzer tank.

"Who-huh?" the old man replied, startled. Then, seeing he had some potential customers, he added, "During the last war, I laid mine in this desert. I removed all but one, so watch your step." he warned.

"You still giving plane rides?" Ken asked.

"Oh, you three want a ride on my plane?"

"Yes, sir." Anna politely replied.

"Which flight plan do you want?" the pilot asked, giving them a choice between three plans - the only difference between them (aside from the price) was the length of time they'd spend in the air.

"We'll take flight plan A" Ken said.

"The airfare is $15 for that flight." the pilot said, taking their money, "Save your ticket stubs. After you get ten stubs, you can take the tank."

"Wow, really?" Lloyd asked, even more excited than before.

"Spunky little kid, ain't he?" the pilot asked.

"Not usually." Ken replied.

"Well, anyway. He looks happy about it." the old man laughed. "Climb aboard."

For this little trip through the wild blue yonder, he had Lloyd sit with him in the rear cockpit, while Ken and Anna (embarrassingly, let alone awkwardly) had to share a seat in the front.

Flying, Ken looked over his side of the plane and saw a strange looking cactus - an unusually brown one with a cartoon-like face. (Yes, a face.) Remembering that minstrel's song once more, Ken made a mental note to visit that site as soon as they landed.

"Something wrong, Ken?" Anna asked.

"Just thought I saw something…" Ken replied.

"Oh…" Anna replied, somewhat disappointed - getting the impression that Ken was hiding something from her.

The plane ride itself extended as far south as a nearby lake, as well as flying over some abandoned ruins and a petrified forest, before landing back at the oasis.

"Guys." Ken said, after they were all out of the plane, in a hush-hush tone, huddling them all together, "I think I found out where that fifth melody fragment's located."

"Here?" Lloyd asked.

"What makes you so sure?" Anna added.

"Some clues I was given when I first left Magicant." Ken explained, "Something this minstrel was playing. His lyrics seemed to have clues about these fragments' locations."

"Like Anna said, what makes you so sure?" Lloyd asked, skeptical.

"So far, everything that song listed were where those fragments were located - my sister's doll, a canary, a singing monkey…"

"…and that piano at the mansion in Spookane." Anna interrupted, finally getting what Ken had meant - that song he must've heard really were clues to the locations of these supposed fragments.

"Exactly." Ken replied, "And while we were up in the air, I saw a cactus that my have the fifth piece."

"I guess we won't know until we find out, right?" Lloyd asked, already certain of the answer, as he and the team made their way to the cactus.

Along the way, the trio was attacked by a small scorpion. As it made its first attack, Lloyd narrowly dodged the scorpion's venomous stinger, while Ken almost took it out with a heavy slam from his bat, as Lloyd finished it off with a well placed shot from his popgun, ending the scorpion's miserable life as the team moved on.

In the home stretch to the cactus, a beam of light shot down, narrowly missing the kids, as another Starman appeared before them, causing Anna to scream, the creature that has been haunting her nightmares since that confrontation at the abandoned hotel in Spookane was standing in front of her and her friends once again.

Taking a swing at the Starman with his bat, Ken caused the robotic beast to stagger back, however it remained standing as it began to prepare itself for an attack. However, Lloyd and Anna's individual attacks managed to throw it off. Taking another swing with his bat, the Starman staggered back even further as sparks started to shoot out of its chest as it exploded, allowing the kids to pass.

"Whoever makes those things…" Lloyd said.

"Please, don't say it." Anna pleaded, covering his mouth with her hand as she and the boys made their way to the cactus.

After combing the desert in the blazing hot sun for what felt like ages, they finally approached the cactus as Ken suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" Anna asked.

"It's speaking to me…" He replied.

"I don't hear anything." Lloyd stated.

"It's using telepathy." Anna replied, "I guess Ken's the one who really was meant to hear it…" Something she was a little bit jealous of, being the "more powerful" psychic of the two.

Using his own telepathic powers to respond, the cactus started singing…

…_~"Raise Your Voices"~…_

Like when they acquired the fragment from that strange piano in that haunted mansion back in Spookane, not just Ken, but all three kids heard that cactus' song.

Making their way back to the oasis, they got the pilot's attention for a second time, showing him their collection of ticket stubs.

"Great!" the pilot said, "I see you've saved ten stubs between you. Go ahead and take the tank."

Naturally, Lloyd was ready to go.

"He looks happy, doesn't he?" the pilot asked, laughing.

Taking the aged Panzer out for a joyride, heading west towards the old ruins, passing through the petrified forest along the way.

Approaching the ruins, however, the inside of the tank started rocking as they soon realized that they were under attack.

"What the Hell?" Ken asked, checking the scopes.

"What is that thing?" Anna asked, looking out the periscope.

"I don't know…" Lloyd replied, trying to steer the tank out of its way, but to no avail, as whatever was attacking them took another shot.

Getting a better look at the enemy, they saw they were facing a ten-foot robot, resembling a pint-sized Gigantor. They were able to make out the serial number, "R-7037" on the robot's bucket-shaped head. Attacking, R-7037 caused some serious damage to the tank, but at least the kids were unharmed, however the tanks armor bounced the damage back, focusing the robot's attack on itself, as each one of the kids fired off the tank guns at the metal beast.

This pattern repeating itself about two or three more times before the robot staggered back, blowing itself apart, allowing the kids to pass. Unfortunately, the tank suffered so much damage that it was no longer able to run.

"Look at this!" Lloyd said, "That old guy's gonna kill us!"

"Let's just go and let that pilot find this out himself." Ken said, as he and Anna walked off, as if they were pretending this whole ordeal never happened.

"Guys!" Lloyd pleaded, before surrendering - catching up with the both them as they continued to explore the ruins.

Stepping inside, however, the kids were attacked by another scorpion. Deciding not to waste any time, Ken sent it flying into the fourth dimension. Before it was sucked into the void, it managed to poison Anna with its stinger. As she gripped her ankle, the spot where the stinger's point went in, Ken immediately tended to her wound, using his psychic energies to alleviate the pain and remove the deadly venom from her body. Like before, even though she easily could've done this herself, she was almost too eager to allow Ken to do for her. She knew she had to be careful - she didn't really need telepathy to tell Ken wasn't really into the 'damsel in distress' type of girl…

Heading underground, the kids saw that they'd entered a cave full of monkeys (a 'monkey cave' if you will…)

"Most monkeys here will lie to you." one warned the kids before scampering off, "So beware!"

Blindly exploring the caves, they found three PSI Stones - a rock, when squeezed, restored Ken and Anna's ability to use their psychic abilities, which naturally wore down each time they used their powers for whatever reason.

Roaming around, one little monkey sashayed over to the kids.

"I am a lady…" it said, "Don't talk to me so casually."

"Right…" Ken replied.

"Truth is, I'm a man…" it said, scampering off.

"OK, now I am officially scared for life." Anna replied, massaging her nasal temples.

"You and me both." Ken added.

"What?" Lloyd asked, unable to listen in.

"Trust us…" Anna said, "You _don't_ want to know."

Deciding to take their word for it, the trio continued searching for an exit.

"It's too quiet here, but too quiet for me." another monkey thought as they passed by.

Seeing they'd been going gone in a circle, they backtracked, taking a different fork in the caverns numerous passageways.

"In a town by the sea, you will meet a new friend." another monkey said. But it wouldn't say anything else. As far as either Ken or Anna using their telepathy to probe further, it would've been of no use - there'd literally be nothing inside that monkey's head to probe that was worth the effort.

Taking a different passageway deeper into the cavern, the monkey waiting for them told them, "Just walk straight! Find truth at the end of the path."

Continuing on with their zig-zag course…

"RETREAT!" a monkey warned, "And if you don't want to…"

"Yes?" Ken asked, suspicious.

"Go back!" the monkey replied, "Or never mind, go forward."

Deciding to go forward in this natural maze even further…

"You caught up with me. I'll admit that's something." another monkey said, "Here, I'll give you something nice." He handed Anna an old, slimy, rotting banana peel. Grossed out, the threw it aside out of reflex, as she and the boys got quite a laugh as that giggling monkey slid on it into one of the maze's walls.

"That showed him…" Anna snickered, as she and her to friends walked off.

"Turn right, then left, to find something nice…" another monkey advised.

"Maybe it's the way outta here." Ken said.

"Only one way to find out." Anna replied as they both led a 'deaf' Lloyd along.

"I don't trust these monkeys. They're all liars." another simian said, "By the way, go right, left, left, and right."

Taking a random path…

"Oh, Anna baby!" the monkey said, whistling and catcalling at the girl, "Hubba hubba, what a dish!" At that moment, as quick as a flash of lighting, Anna lashed out at perverted primate, leaving a huge bump and bruise on its forehead where her skillet made contact. Slinging the frying pan over her shoulder and walking off, she added (as stars were circling the KO-ed monkey's head), "Let that be a lesson to you, boys." Then, stopping and turning her head to look at the boys, with a smirk, "_Don't_ try getting fresh with me…"

Looking at the monkey, the boys got the idea.

"Well… aren't you two coming?" she asked.

Naturally, the boys followed. They didn't want to end up like that poor, foolish monkey.

Eventually, they found themselves in the cave's center room, where the most monkeys were gathered. Talking to each one of them, one tried in vain to disprove that all monkeys were liars, while another tried to pass itself off with as a raccoon pretending to be a monkey. The only thing Ken was surprised to see was his favorite type of animal, though it appeared to be lost, was a sweating penguin was waddling around among the smaller monkeys.

The monkey's leader was also throwing a fit about all the lying monkeys under its rule. Sensing it was the most honest one among the simian society, it told the kids that an exit they were looking for wasn't too far off.

"Don't go further ahead." another monkey warned, though the kids simply ignored it - up ahead was the only way out of this crazy hellhole, and they've all had more than enough of this crazy scene. Taking it, however, they found out that the pathway led into yet another cavern, leading up to another pink XX-Stone, leading them right back to Magicant. Like all the others entrances, the question to use its power to arrive in the mystical realm was always the same…

"Who has lost his tail?"

Having a nice meal and a short rest in Magicant, the trio returned to the Valley of Wells, but as soon as they emerged from the cave, they noticed something was strangely amiss - when they emerged from the cavern _this time_, they discovered that they weren't anywhere near Podunk _or_ Merrysville. Following the nearby train tracks, they were overjoyed to find they were finally close to reaching Youngtown.

Heading north from the abandoned train station, they headed west into an overgrown, thick weeded area through a grove of trees.

"The trains have stopped." the former conductor said, boarding up the building, "The track was ruined. It's the end of the world. I could just cry."

Leaving the old man to wallow in his self-pity, the kids continued walking.

"If my memory serves me correctly…" Anna said, acting as the boys' guide, leading them through an area where the trees parted enough to be walked through, leading them to the community's gates, which had obviously seen better days.

As Anna gasped, Ken asked her if anything was wrong.

"It's just as I'd feared." she said.

"What?" Lloyd asked.

"Just… look!" she said, "There's not an adult in sight…"

"Maybe they're all inside." Ken said.

"**No**!" Anna vehemently replied, "There's _something_ wrong here." Even though she didn't have the power of empathy, she could easily tell the town's children were all in great distress.

Walking around, it soon became apparent that Anna's worst fear about this town really was confirmed - the town's entire adult population had mysteriously vanished - leaving all the town's children behind to fend for themselves.

Unfortunately, by some cruel twist of fate, Anna's Mother was one among the missing, just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. She'd disappeared while visiting some sick relatives who were living in Youngtown. Unfortunately, school and work prevented Anna and her father from going with her - and all of this happened at least a couple of months ago…

Seeing that the supposed fun of an adult-free world had easily long since died down, the entire town was littered with lonely children crying for their missing parents. Still, Lord of the Flies this was not. Somehow, order among them _was_ maintained…

"Well, my dad isn't home, and I don't care about money." one kid said, approaching the three, slightly older strangers, "So if you need a place to stay, feel free to stay at my place tonight." this little kid offered.

"Thank you." Ken said, as they each took a separate room - Ken and Lloyd still bunking together.

"Good morning." the kid said as the trio of older pre-teenagers emerged from their rented bedrooms, "Please come back again someday." the 'innkeeper' offered, "If you do, I might not get quite so lonely."

Being the little mother that she was, this tore at Anna's heartstrings - the boys had to convince her _not_ to stay behind.

Next door to the inn, Lloyd was able to obtain parts to upgrade his handgun into a more powerful air rifle - a projectile weapon that he didn't need to load, but the air it shot was as powerful as any high-caliber bullet. Anna also took the opportunity to buy a new nonstick skillet.

"Something's very strange with the Garrickson baby." a little girl said, "Something very strange indeed."

"Where do they live." Anna asked; strange or not, she could never pass up the opportunity to see a baby up close.

Given directions, the trio saw that the kids were all in a state of distress - those that claimed they liked a world without grown-ups couldn't hide their tears.

"A big ship from the sky took Mommy and Daddy away." they heard a little girl cry.

"I heard my dad's voice coming from the mountains." a little boy replied, "But the mountains are beyond the town of Ellay. It's so far away, I can't make that journey."

Somehow, that struck a _dé jà vu_ cord with Ken - something that supposedly happened to his family so long ago, but was never really spoken of - something about a similar situation happening so many years ago…

Entering the house, they saw the baby was being tended to by its two older siblings, a boy and a girl, no more than the age of six or seven between them.

"Oh, yes." the brother said, "My name is Tom Garrickson." introducing himself, "I like to introduce myself. It's a hobby."

"I guess everyone needs one." Ken said, under his breath, only to get ribbed by Anna's elbow.

"Mom told me that the baby has mystic powers." the little girl said.

"It does?" Ken asked, looking it over.

Though it looked like an everyday, ordinary six-month old, the psychic power the baby was emitting was almost as powerful as, if not more than, Ken and Anna's mental powers put together.

As it talked baby talk, as Anna held it, the baby actually spoke, mentally, to the two psychic pre-teens.

"Isn't he just the cutest thing?" Anna cooed.

"Uh…" Ken stammered, loosening the red bandana he had tied around his neck to swallow the lump that'd formed in his throat. As far as he was concerned, if he was reading Anna right, he was a bit far too young to start thinking of such things. Lloyd, on the other hand, stayed closer to the door, content on Anna and Ken having their moment. That, and he wasn't _that_ big of a fan of small children, anyway…

"Yes, even though my body is that of a baby," the baby spoke to their minds as clear as the outside morning sky, "like you, I possess psychic abilities."

"Ken…?" Anna asked, somewhat scared, yet she was relieved that she didn't drop the poor infant in her shocked state of friend.

"I heard it…" Ken said, referring to the voice.

"I know the power of teleportation." the baby continued, "Use this power to return to any place you've already been to. Now, please" the baby requested, "Though I've enjoyed you holding me, I must be placed back in my crib if I am to teach you this technique."

"Oh, yes…" Anna replied, doing as requested, "Of course."

"Now…" the baby said, as a seemingly flash of bright light, unseen to Lloyd and the baby's older siblings, opened both of Ken and Anna's minds, allowing the infant to teach them both the power of teleportation.

"Now…" the baby continued, after the lesson was completed, "…please step outside and try it out."

Doing as told, the kids tried it out, teleporting to a neutral location between them, they reluctantly decided to briefly teleport to Spookane and back, not staying long enough in the eerie town before returning to Youngtown.

Doing this, they discovered that this form of teleportation differed from what was commonly believed to be teleportation. Instead of stripping down to the molecular level, only to be reassembled elsewhere, this method involved using your natural psychic powers to amplify your running speed to just shy of the speed of light. While concentrating on a certain location, you'd be able to naturally break down barriers and arrive at that location as time around you almost stops.

The problem with this method was, not only did it require quite a bit of concentration to perform, but you'd also needed a clear pathway to move, because (while building up the necessary speed) turning was next to impossible - if you hit an obstacle, the teleportation would fail and you'd basically burn out. Also, if traveling with more than one person, the location had to be mutually agreed upon, or the results would be disastrous, so it was often best that one person initiates the teleportation, while the others are simply dragged along for the ride. At least, as far as this method was concerned, you stood little, if any, risk of having your molecules scrambled when you arrive at your destination. Still, it was a pretty handy technique to have, it was still pretty risky. One both Ken and Anna decided to only use sparingly - **and** if necessary.

Done with Youngtown, for now anyway, the gang headed west through a huge, spiraling swamp. Heading toward the south as far as they could go, then they headed north-west, eventually reaching this house where they received a surprise visitor.

"Ken!" this younger girl squealed, latching onto him as soon as he and his friends walked by.

"Pippi?" Ken asked, not sure what to think.

"Friend of your's?" Anna asked, with an air of cold, possessive jealousy in her voice.

"Somewhat…" he replied, trying to remove the girl.

"Who is this?" Pippi asked, finally releasing Ken from her death grip, with an even greater amount of freezing jealousy in her voice aimed at Ken's lady companion (while Lloyd was gratefully ignored by the parties involved in this nasty, ever-growing argument.)

"I'm Anna, Ken's…" she snapped, getting catty.

"Oh, you are, are you?" Pippi interrupted.

"**Girls**!" Ken yelled, coming between them, trying in vain to calm them both down. "Does your mom know you're here?" he asked Pippi.

Avoiding eye contact, the answer was obvious.

"It's my Dad's place." she said, hastily.

"Liar." Anna abruptly said, under her breath.

"Anna…" Ken said, scolding her.

"Alright! It's my Uncle's!" she confessed, which was closer to the truth, "He's just… away right now."

Ken, Anna and Lloyd were already suspecting that whatever had happened to her "uncle" had also happened to the entire adult population of Youngtown.

"You three are welcome to stay here and rest for as long as you need." she added, depressed. While it was obvious that she had a crush on Ken since he saved her from those zombies in the cemetery, it didn't take psychic powers to tell Anna had an even bigger one on him than little Pippi did. To Anna's advantage, though, she was able to use her own abilities to cloud that little fact about herself from Ken - not that he'd notice…

Thanking her, but politely declining, they left. While Lloyd was smart enough to stay out of his friends' more "personal issues", Ken hastily explained how he and Pippi knew one another. With everything settled between them, peace reigned once more. They had a long way to go in order to reach the next town, and the path they were forced to take was "loopy" at best. What made the trip worse was the fact that they were traveling blind.

Along the way, however, they had a small, albeit rather late picnic lunch at this roadside picnic area, a farewell gift from one of the kids from Youngtown. Using the dumpster…

"HEY!" the dumpster cried out.

"Did you say something?" Anna asked.

"I didn't say anything." Ken replied.

"Hey out there!" the dumpster said.

"It can't be…" Lloyd said, suspicious.

"You mean that there's someone in there?" Anna asked, not believing what she was seeing, even though her psychic senses told her otherwise.

"Anyone you know, Lloyd?" Ken asked, teasing his friend.

"Lloyd?" the voice from inside the dumpster asked, "Lloyd Palmer, is that you?"

"Dad…?" Lloyd asked, confused, raising the lid, confirming his suspicions, "What're you doing in there?"

"I see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Ken replied, under his breath while Lloyd shoots him a feral look, catching Ken's remarks as he nonverbally told him to shut up.

"I'm hiding for those… _things_ that kidnapped all those people from Youngtown."

"What things? What about them?" Anna asked, concerned.

"I don't know what they are, but I'm not coming out until they're gone!" Lloyd's Father replied.

"Do you at least know where they were taken?" Ken asked.

"No, and I don't want to find out the hard way!" Lloyd's Father said, "Before you leave though." he requested.

"Yes sir?" Ken asked.

"Please look after Lloyd." the man in the trashcan requested, "He can be a real weakling…"

As Lloyd face palmed, and Anna snickered, "Don't worry." Ken replied, playing it up even further, "We'll take _real_ good care of _itty bitty ol'_ Lloyd…" slapping him on the back. Unintentionally knocking his glasses off.

"You guys are real funny, you know that?" Lloyd responded, resetting his glasses as the trio left the dumpster behind, as he had his hand on his air gun, though he didn't have it aimed, he was ready to draw and fire - friend or not. "Half the time I wonder - with friends like you, guys, who really needs enemies?"

"Oh, come on, you know we don't mean any harm by it." Ken pleaded.

"Yeah, we're sorry, Lloyd." Anna replied, comforting Lloyd further. Then, sternly eying Ken, "I'm sure he didn't mean anything malicious by that remark." Then, the tone of her voice changing for the worst, "Didn't you?"

"You know I didn't…" Ken replied.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Lloyd responded, not really looking at either of them, however he never took his hand from his weapon's makeshift holster, "but just in case…"

Ken got the idea, and basically kept his mouth shut the rest of the way as they left the elder coward and the lovesick little girl behind, finally reaching the bridge that would lead them to their next destination. Finally leaving the swamp behind through another small yet thick grove of trees, the kids finally reached the city of Ellay, where you didn't need psychic powers to know, **if **you valued your life, you wouldn't want to stay there any longer than a few short seconds…


	9. Ellay's Most Wanted

**IX**

_Ellay's Most Wanted_

Roaming around the densely populated city of Ellay, the kids saw a metropolis being terrorized by a brutal gang of street thugs calling themselves "The Black Blood Gang". Their reign of terror was so bad that even the undermanned, mal-funded, and overpowered police force were hardly able to do anything within their means to stop it.

"Hey!" one thug said, brandishing a lead pipe and hiding his face in a blue hooded sweats shirt underneath a heavy black leather jacket, "What'll it be? Your money or your life!"

"Neither…" Ken replied, as Lloyd and Anna took up the rear.

"What was that?" the punk asked.

"You heard me." Ken replied, "You ain't gettin' either one."

"OK, you asked for it!" As the punk charged at Ken quickly stepped aside, as he swung his bat at the thug, causing him to drop his pipe. As the thug muttered some nasty words at the kid, which couldn't be repeated in public, got the thug slammed in the head by Anna's skillet, while Lloyd got a clear and easy shot at the thug's rear with his air rifle, even though he tempered the shot to avoid causing any more serious injury, as Ken finished the thug off with one more slam to the back with his trusted baseball bat.

As the thug crawled away, all bloody, bruised and beaten…

"What's wrong?" Ken asked, adrenaline pumping at full force, "Is that all you've got?"

"Who-who the bloody ****in' Hell **are** you guys?" the thug asked, looking like he'd just called Mike Tyson a sissy.

"I'm Bat Man!" Ken sarcastically replied, showing off by swinging his bat around, "And my friends and I are your worst nightmare."

"Youse guys're ****in' crazy!" the thug said, running off, "I'm gettin' the ****in' Hell outta here!"

"And don't let me catch you around here again!" Ken yelled off at his would be assailant.

Near the town's leading department store, this street hawker caught the kids' attention.

"I've got a ticket for the Live House." the guy said, indicating a nightclub behind him, "You know, the store's sold out." This, however, set off several serious red flags for Ken and Anna, their telepathy warning them that _something_ about this guy wasn't entirely on the up-and-up, "I can part with it for a mere $1,200."

"$1,200!" Ken replied, "Thanks, but we'll pass."

"*pft!* Stingy kids." the scalper scoffed as he went off in search of another target.

Before the kids could go elsewhere, they were confronted by a familiar, yet extremely angry face.

"You brats broke my tank!" that old biplane pilot yelled, enraged and ready to get reimbursed any way he could, whether it was legal or not, "It was my most prized possession!"

"We're sorry, really…" Ken said.

"Save it!" the pilot spat, "It's gonna cost me $2,000 to get the parts I need to finish repairs."

"Two-Thousand?" Ken asked, shocked.

"And you overgrown brats better give me restitution, or by God, I'll…"

"We'll pay!" Anna abruptly said.

"Anna…" Ken said, pulling her and Lloyd aside.

"Relax - I have half that much in a private account, and I know your father's been giving you daily stipends for emergencies." Anna said. Then, looking over her shoulder back at the old man, "And I'd say _this_ is quite an emergency."

Sighing, Ken knew he was beaten… _again_.

"Sir?" he asked, "We just have to withdraw it from our bank account. Just… please wait here while we go get it."

"You'd better be back with it…" the old man sneered.

"You can have me as collateral." Anna suddenly stated, catching her two friends off guard.

"What?" Lloyd replied, almost losing his glasses in the shock.

"Anna?" Ken replied.

"Relax…" she scoffed, "I trust that you'll come back with the money." Then, getting nasty, "'cause if you don't, you'll have more than Hell to pay when I get through with you."

Getting one last look, Ken rushed off to the nearby department store to use their ATM to withdraw the $2,000 - as well as $360 for three tickets to get into the Live House nightclub. (Hey, it sure beat the price that scalper was charging for just one, and he was able to get three for less than a third of the price.)

Returning…

"Here." Ken said, handing the old man what he wanted.

Counting the money on the spot, his disposition somewhat softened, "Thank you, and goodbye."

As the old man left, he was no longer blocking their entrance into the Live House, which was starting to cause a scene.

"What kept you?" Anna asked.

Knowing she could tell if he was lying, Ken just came out with it.

"Turns out that scalper was lying." Ken said, handing them each a ticket, "You could get them at the department store for a tenth of the price."

Not sure whether to hug him or slug him, Anna took her ticket as she and the boys entered the establishment.

"Tickets please." the bouncer said, unenthusiastically and in an almost robot-like monotone as the kids entered the establishment, "You need a ticket to get in."

"Here." Ken said, handing them over.

Looking them over, the bouncer seemed somewhat satisfied, "Thank you. Hope you enjoy yourself."

Activating the automatic turnstile, the kids were allowed to enter the darkened nightclub.

Escorted to a table, the kids were given a menu and left alone to look them over, as a voluptuous, somewhat scantily clad waitress came walking up to them.

"Wow, you look cute." the waitress said, putting on the charm, "How 'bout I buy you a drink."

Hiding all but her evil eyes behind the menu, Anna shot the waitress a look that could melt ice.

Ken's telepathy kicking in like Spider-Man's Spider Sense, Ken noticed the lady (in the weakest definition of the word) was hiding a police badge and a pair of handcuffs in her slightly exposed bust line and a John Derringer handgun in the back pocket of her Daisy Duke shorts. Learning to trust his Spider Senses, as he'd nicknamed them, it was obvious this waitress was a narc.

"Uh… No thanks," Ken replied, "We're good."

With a bubbly laugh, she asked, "What? Are you scared of the cops? Come on!"

"He said we're not interested!" Anna burst out.

"Well…" the woman said in a huff, miffed as she walked away to hunt for a new victim.

"Thanks, Anna." Lloyd replied.

"Talk about someone who won't take 'no' for an answer…" Ken replied, looking down at his menu, hoping this place served a good T-bone steak special.

"Anna, girl!" this other rowdy patron said, staggering (and obviously) drunk.

"Do I know you?" She asked, suspiciously eyeing him.

"It says so on your hat, cutie. *hic*"

Taking off her hat, she saw that she did in fact have her name sewn on it, on the size tag _inside_ of the headwear.

"*hic* How 'bout you and me…?" the drunk slurred.

"Waitress!" Ken bursts in, "Here's one for you!"

With that, the drunk was escorted out of the building, with his hands behind his back, chained to a pair of thin metal bracelets.

"Now we're even." Ken said, said to Anna, getting her to awkwardly blush at the response, knowing full well what he was referring to.

"Teddy's parents were killed by mountain creatures." Ken overheard this woman at the next table say to another, "Before that, he was such a gentle kid."

"Don't peek in the back room." Ken also overheard another patron warning his friend, "Or you'll get it for sure." pointing to a dressing room door one of the far end walls of the building. Deciding he didn't want to know what was supposed to be going on in that room, he and his friends' attention were immediately drawn to the emcee as he stepped up on stage as the lights in the hall finally dimmed.

"Ladies and gentlemen?" he said, addressing the small crowd as a lone spotlight shown down on him, "We regret to inform you that the main act has just called in to say that something's suddenly come up and they'll be unable to perform this evening." After the jeers from the audience died down, and he avoided the random rotten egg and tomato thrown at him, "Please, please!" the emcee pleaded, "Before you kind people demand any your money back, how about we have a little (impromptu) karaoke show." As the crowd grumbled, at least the tension had died down enough for him to continue, "All we need is at least one brave volunteer from the audience…"

You could almost see the light bulb turn on above Anna's head. "Why don't we, boys?" she asked, excited.

"I don't know…" Lloyd stammered.

"Come on, it'll be fun." Anna pleaded.

Before Ken and Lloyd could protest any further, Anna volunteered them to do a number on stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first act of the evening." he said, "Please, give a round of applause for these three young men and woman as they sing Jeremy Budd's latest hit, "All That I Needed"."

As the music started playing, and the light, obligatory applause died down, the gang went into some impromptu chorography. As soon as the melody cues start playing, Anna and Ken alternated verses, occasionally sharing one, while Lloyd provided backup…

**(Anna)**

…_~"I used to think I was so smart"~…_

…_~"But I couldn't hide the hole in my heart"~…_

…_~"Sad as it seems"~…_

…_~"None of my dreams"~…_

…_~"Ever came true"~…_

**(Ken)**

…_~"I used to walk the avenue"~…_

…_~"All by myself, with nothin' to do"~…_

…_~"Kickin' at cans"~…_

…_~"Half of a man"~…_

…_~"Till I met you, and I knew"~…_

**(Anna/Ken)**

…_~"I've looked for you"~…_

…_~"All of my life"~…_

…_~"Round every corner"~…_

…_~"Wishin' on stars"~…_

…_~"Like some kind of fool"~…_

**(Anna/Ken/Lloyd)**

…_~"*…ooo…* *…ooo…* *…ooo…*"~…_

**(Ken)**

…_~"But now that I see"~…_

…_~"The stars in your eyes"~…_

…_~"Those days are over"~…_

…_~"I took one look and I was hooked"~…_

…_~"I found heaven in you"~…_

**(Anna)**

…_~"And though my dream was overdue"~…_

…_~"My prayer was answered out of the blue"~…_

…_~"And now I know"~…_

…_~"I know it's true"~…_

…_~"All that I needed was you"~…_

**(Anna/Ken/Lloyd)**

…_~"You were all that I wanted"~…_

…_~"You were all that I needed"~…_

**(Ken)**

…_~"I was lost, anyone could tell"~…_

…_~"Just tossing dimes in wishing wells"~…_

…_~"Out of money and down on luck"~…_

…_~"Was I surprised when lightnin' struck"~…_

…_~"And suddenly, you were sent to me"~…_

**(Anna)**

…_~"My destiny. it was meant to be"~…_

…_~"I didn't know before"~…_

…_~"What I was living for"~…_

…_~"But now I know for sure"~…_

…_~"I have been waiting for you"~…_

**(Ken)**

…_~"I never knew what I had missed"~…_

…_~"Until the moment that we kissed"~…_

…_~"Angel divine"~…_

…_~"Now you are mine"~…_

…_~"I feel brand new"~…_

**(Anna)**

…_~"And now at last my life's complete"~…_

…_~"Baby, your love's the missing piece"~…_

…_~"Here in my arms"~…_

…_~"Here in my heart"~…_

…_~"All that I needed was you"~…_

**(Anna/Ken)**

…_~"I've looked for you"~…_

…_~"All of my life"~…_

…_~"Round every corner"~…_

…_~"Wishin' on stars"~…_

…_~"Like some kind of fool"~…_

**(Anna/Ken/Lloyd)**

…_~"*…ooo…* *…ooo…* *…ooo…*"~…_

**(Ken)**

…_~"But now I see the stars in your eyes"~…_

…_~"Those days are over"~…_

…_~"I took one look"~…_

…_~"And I was hooked"~…_

…_~"I found heaven in you"~…_

**(Anna/Ken/Lloyd)**

…_~"And though my dream was overdue"~…_

…_~"My prayer was answered out of the blue"~…_

…_~"And now I know"~…_

…_~"I know it's true"~…_

…_~"All that I needed was you"~…_

As the song concluded, the audience applauded, obviously entertained at the three young teenagers' spectacle.

"I didn't know you could sing so well, Ken." Anna said, as the gang took their bows.

"*heh* Neither did I."

Around that time, this buff, older teenager, who couldn't have been older than seventeen, maybe nineteen tops, came into the club, walking up to the trio looking like he was ready for a fight - leather boots, ripped jeans, a studded belt, white tank top, black fingerless gloves, sunglasses and a greased back pompadour - If he had a leather jacket, he'd look like someone out of an old James Dean movie.

"Thank you for your nice song." the stranger said.

"Thanks." Ken replied, suspicious, sarcastically.

"By the way, you beat up on one of my friends." the stranger added, "I'll smash you good!"

"You mean that Black Blood thug?" Lloyd replied.

"That's him." the stranger sneered. "Who's your boss! I'm planning to teach him a lesson."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Ken bravely stepped forward.

"Not for long, you ain't!" the stranger said, taking a swing at Ken, making him stagger back, unprepared for that punch to the face.

"Ken!" Anna and Lloyd cried, concerned as they ran to his side, helping him up.

"This one's mine…" they heard Ken sneer as he charged forward, only to get a heavy slug to his gut. Without the use of his bat against the older teenaged gang boss, Ken got a lucky strike in, knocking the stranger back a couple of steps. Trading punches with one another, Anna and Lloyd had no choice but to watch from the sidelines - Ken wasn't allowing either of them to back him up. Besides, to his surprise, he was holding his own fairly well. Getting one more good punch in on the young kid, the stranger knocked Ken to the ground.

"Ken! Look out!" Anna shouted, seeing the stranger had produced a stiletto.

As soon as the stranger threw his knife, Anna reacted, using her telekinesis to force the blade to hang midair just before it came in contact with Ken's head. When Ken looked at her, Anna lost concentration, forcing the knife to drop to the floor, ending the fight.

"*hahaha* You're quite a guy." the guy smirked, letting out a hearty laugh as soon as the shock wore off, "Your name's Ken? Let's call this a draw, then…"

"Just who the Hell are you, anyway?" Ken demanded, brushing himself off after his friends helped him get up.

"Someone who seek vengeance for my parents." he replied.

"You're Teddy?" Lloyd asked.

"The one and only." Teddy smirked. "To the mountains! I'm sure we'll make a great team! Let's get going!" Like it or not, Teddy was joining this rag tag little party, save for one exception. "You there!" pointing at one of the kids, "The one with the glasses!"

"Who, me?" Lloyd asked.

"You're not good at fighting, are you?" Teddy asks.

"Not really…"

"Rest here, then." Teddy says, "While these two and I head into the mountains."

"Hey, wait!" Ken protested.

"Save it, Ken…" Lloyd calmly interrupted, "I could use the R&R."

"Lloyd, are you sure about this?" Anna asked.

"Positive." Lloyd replied.

"Then it's settled." Teddy said, "Let's go!"

"Wait!" Lloyd said, "Before you guys head off without me, we found this on our way here." handing Teddy the sword they'd been keeping on hand since Ken had found it while roaming around the tunnels underneath Magicant.

"Righteous!" Teddy said, seething the sword in his belt, "Thanks, kid."

"Good luck, guys!" Lloyd said, as the original team (reluctantly) parted ways.


	10. The Dragon's Musical Challenge

**X**

_The Dragon's Musical Challenge_

Stepping outside the Live House, no one really needed psychic abilities to feel that neither Ken nor Anna thought that highly of Teddy, or the fact that he almost forcedly took Lloyd's place on their team. What Anna _really_ didn't like, though, was this brute calling Lloyd "weak" - at least when she and Ken teased Lloyd, she could tell that he knew that they weren't being malicious with their comments, and those were few and far between, but the **never **poked fun at his physical shortcomings. But what Teddy did back there was just…

Stopping ahead, Teddy scanned the area for a set of wheels to hijack.

"Hold it!" Ken said.

"What!" Teddy asked.

"Before we 'avenge your parents' and all, Anna and I have some unfinished business to take care of elsewhere."

"We do?" Anna asked, surprised, suspicious, yet somewhat hopeful.

Sighing, Teddy conceded, "Alright… What I need to do can wait."

Ken and Anna exchanged glances, almost having a telepathic conversation with one another, reluctantly agreeing to take Teddy with them wherever it was Ken was planning on heading to. As he took out the Onyx Hook from his backpack, the pair, and their new ally, were whisked away to the mystical land of Magicant.

Once there, as soon as Teddy's eyes began to refocus, (by now, Ken and Anna were already used to the transition between realms, the effect on them wasn't as severe.) he was beyond astonished to see what he saw. To him, this place made him feel like he was on some kind of bad acid trip. True, he didn't use any illicit drugs, or anything, he _did_ have his gang push them out on the streets of Ellay.

The second they got there, The team checked into their private motel. Turning on the light to the boys' bedroom, Ken was shocked to see it had been completely redecorated. Lloyd's possessions were gone, only to be replaced by things Ken found foreign. However, what Ken saw as junk made Teddy feel right at home.

On the table where Lloyd's computer used to sit now had a guitar stand placed on top of it, holding a classic Gibson electric guitar. Where Teddy was supposed to sleep (Lloyd's old bed) was an autobiography on the Japanese rock 'n' roll star, E. Yazawa, that Teddy got from a former Black Blood Gang member, known only as Koyano, who reformed and went back home to the Land of the Rising Sun several years back, after handing the reigns of leadership over to Teddy. Though he couldn't read a word of Japanese, like the rest of the kids, Teddy felt a kind of… strength, knowing of rock 'n' roll's worldwide influence. There was even a leather jacket draped across the chair and a pack of cigarettes that sat on the nightstand between the boys' beds (something Ken couldn't stand, for _obvious _reasons.)

"I don't believe this." Teddy said, taking off his signature sunglasses to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Who'd go through all this trouble…?"

"We don't know." Ken replied, "But whoever it was that set this place up for us wants us to be as comfortable as possible."

Sitting on the bed, Teddy turned on the radio, almost overjoyed with the fact it was playing his favorite rock 'n' roll tunes from times gone by.

Relaxing, Teddy's eyes shifted toward the corner of the room, where they spied an occupied terrarium.

"Fonzie!" Teddy cried, getting up and practically rushing to the enclosure, taking out his prized pet iguana.

"Friend of yours?" Ken asked.

"Yeah…" Teddy replied, "Soon after I took over the Black Bloods, we got into a little tussle with our rivals, the Jet Lizards. Naturally, we slaughtered 'em. The beaten Jet Lizards swore undying allegiance to us, and this little guy was a peace offering."

"Fascinating…" Ken replied, somewhat unimpressed.

"Well… personally I hate reptiles, but I'm rarely anyone who'd let anyone's kindness go to waste," he boasted, "so I started raising him, and it somewhat grew on me."

"I can tell it's attached to you." Ken replied, as the lizard enjoyed having its chin scratched.

"*Heh* yeah…" Teddy replied, putting "Fonzie" back into its cage.

"What's with the jacket?" Ken asked.

"It was my Dad's…" Teddy replied, solemnly.

"I'm sorry…" Ken replied. So far, everyone who's joined this party has either lost a parent or at least had one that was absent (almost) all the time…

"Boys?" Anna asked, entering through the access door that combined their two rooms, "I'm going over to the diner. Any of you two coming?" Seeing her question fell on deaf ears, instead of leaving, she takes a seat next to Ken.

"My old man was a grease monkey, one of the best ever around." Teddy said, "He actually named me after his garage. He and my old lady often told me I used to entertain the young mechanics that worked for him by sitting on the hood of some old T-Bird that was in for repairs, just waggin' my finger in time with the rock music playing on the car's radio with a choco-cig hanging from my mouth. Most of 'em called me 'Mini-Elvis.'

By five, I learned how well I could fight. I came home in the rear of a black and white for the first time when I was eleven. At twelve, I snuck into the Live House for the first time, before they started lettin' minors in before ten. And, I became the Black Blood's leader as soon as I turned fourteen. I even got a brand of sunglasses named after me." he said, twirling his private pair by the handle, "Proves what a good right hook'll do." Laughing, "In other words, I decide how I live my life…" With that, he took a cigarette out of its pack and lit up, only to have Anna douse it with a miniature psychic blizzard.

"Hey! What gives!" Teddy demanded to know.

"In case you didn't know, Ken has asthma." Anna sternly replies.

"I didn't…" Teddy replies, tossing the now useless cigarette into the trash, "So what? You have your girlfriend stick up for ya?"

"Whether I do or don't do isn't any of your business." Ken replied, fuming, using his telepathy to give Teddy a massive headache.

"Fine, fine! I'll take it outside." recovering.

"Thanks, Anna." Ken said, as soon as Teddy closed the door behind him.

"Think nothing of it." she replied, smiling as she left for the diner. "Now, you coming or not?"

"Right behind ya." Ken replied, always eager for Magicant's steak special.

That night, Teddy could be seen moaning, tossing, and turning, before waking up in a cold sweat. (Though Ken was too sound asleep to notice…) Outside, it was almost dawn, so Teddy takes a cigarette and his lighter and steps outside. Lighting it up and sitting down on a park bench, the events Teddy has been desperately trying to forget just won't let him be.

Almost like it was yesterday, though almost a lifetime has passed since then, his parents were testing this pickup truck his dad had finished repairing up on Mt. Itoi, like he'd always done. Teddy knew this drive doubled as a date for the couple, who were out reliving their teenaged years driving up to some make out point high on the mountain. He was only ten at the time, and the sight of seeing that old truck being torn in two was an image he's been trying hard to forget, but the memory of the newsflash the next day would never leave his mind.

According to the anchor, the police said they were speeding, but Teddy knew better - that old truck could barely make it past fifty. That, and he swore that he saw some kind of monster tearing the vehicle apart, but people just passed it off as him mourning over his parents, coupled with his inexplicable feeling of powerlessness. It was also around the time he finally traded chocolate cigarettes for the real ones. He gave his last choco-ciggies to a bunch of high school kids…

Normally, if he were back in Ellay, he'd walk into the Live House, drink a bottle of beer or two bone dry, smash the glass bottle on the bar, and get into some meaningless fight. He wouldn't get into much trouble for it; naturally, the police were afraid of him and his bloodthirsty street gang as they roamed the street like a pack of unchained rabid dogs. Still, even though he is, or was, their leader, he kept as much distance between himself and his gang as he possibly could. Even the Live House's owner, who'd known Teddy since he was twelve, along with anyone else who _really_ knew him, couldn't seem to console the young man.

"Teddy?" Anna asks, snapping him back to reality, unaware of the fact that the cigarette was now burnt down to the filter.

"It's time to go." Ken adds.

Flicking the cigarette aside, Teddy gets up from the bench as he and his new traveling companions leave for the Valley of Wells. Along the way, at least Ken and Anna were grateful that they didn't need to enlist the aide of the Flyingmen - Teddy proved, with his new katana, that in a fight that he had the potential to be this team's most powerful ally.

Exploring the caverns underneath Magicant, on their way to their usual exit, they (seemingly) took a wrong turn and wound up face-to-face with that sleeping dragon.

"If we leave real slowly and quietly, I don't think it'll notice us." Ken whispered to his two traveling companions as the oversized lizard continued with its loud, blissful slumber.

Unfortunately, however, the bubble formed by the dragon's nose popped as its eyes shot open. Suddenly aware of both Ken and Anna's combined mental powers, the dragon began to stir.

"**Run!**" Anna cried, as all three of them bolted towards the only clear exit, only to be blocked by the dragon's massive tail. Anna screams, narrowly being crushed by the dragon's oversized appendage.

Roaring, the dragon bellowed, "If you wish to earn my musical melody, you must defeat me in battle!"

"What the Hell is that thing talking about?" Teddy asked. But before either Ken or Anna could explain, all three had to dodge the dragon's fiery breath. Like it or not, they had no choice but to fight the dragon, or die trying…

Putting his 'swordsmanship' skills to work, Teddy took a decent slash at the beast with his trusted sword, as Ken aided, although not as well, by clubbing the beast with his bat. Though it hurt the dragon, the only purpose this served was to make it mad.

Emitting a strange cry, the dragon's wail managed to lower Ken's defenses with its earsplitting call. Meanwhile, Anna got a decent shot with her psychic beam, causing the beast to recoil.

Taking another hacking slash at the dragon, Teddy's offensive prowess was increased by Ken's psychic powers. Unfortunately, however, the dragon let out a massive blast of its fiery breath, causing the team some critical damage. Anna, pissed, let loose another psychic beam.

As Teddy continued to slash at the dragon with his trusted blade, Anna and Ken restored each other's will to fight, allowing each other to continue with their life or death battle. However, the dragon let out another earsplitting wail, bringing Ken's overall defenses down even further.

As Teddy stabbed the beast, Ken took the opportunity to go on the offensive, clubbing at the scaly beast with his bat. However, unfortunately, after the bat made contact, the dragon swung its claws, striking Ken, sending him falling back, where he finally collapsing to the hard, rocky ground, unconscious as life sustaining blood was starting to ooze out of Ken's wounded chest.

"**Ken!**" Anna cried. Then, glaring at the winged reptile, "Damn you…" she sneered, firing off a psychic blizzard, which the beast simply shrugged off, before she knelt by Ken's seemingly lifeless body, fighting back tears.

Equally mad, Teddy charged at the beast, sword at the ready and letting out a "_**Banzai!**_" war cry unlike none anyone has ever heard before. Leaping high, the blade of Teddy's katana made contact with the dragon, slashing past it. Landing, Teddy shifted the blade as the dragon fell to the earth, allowing Teddy to seethe his sword in its makeshift leather hilt.

Though still in tears, Anna placed her hands together in a praying fashion as the aura around her began to glow as what was left of Ken's also began to react. After whatever she'd done to him was over with, Ken started to moan. Propping himself up on his elbows, all he could ask was, "What hit me?" before being engulfed in Anna's tight embrace, leaving him stunned.

"I'm so glad you're alright…" Ken could barely hear Anna say.

Without much hesitation, the dragon started crooning out its heavily guarded melody…

…_~"All Day Long Now"~…_

With that, Ken smiled. Six fragments discovered - only two more left to go.

"Well… we got what we came for." Ken said, "Let's go."

"Wait!" Teddy said, catching up, "This was planned?"

"Somewhat…" Ken replied.

"What do you mean, somewhat!" Teddy bursts out, "You mean to tell me that we risked our necks just to hear that dragon sing some song!"

"That's about it…" Ken replied.

"**Why!**" Teddy demanded to know.

"Teddy…" Anna explained, "The only reason the people of Magicant are letting us have free reign of this place is that Ken promised their ruler he'd find this song, fragment-by-fragment."

"I don't get it!" Teddy said as they left the dragon behind to lick its wounds, "What was so important about that song?"

"I don't know." Ken replied, "All I do know is that it's the least we can do for her and her people being such over-gracious hosts."

Sighing, Teddy continued muttering, "I don't get it. I just don't get it…" Teddy added, as they took the path back to the real world. Now, it was finally time for Teddy to avenge his parents, or die trying.

Arriving at the spire inside the cave that would've led them to Youngtown.

"Great!" Teddy said, slightly familiar with the area, "We're miles away from Ellay!"

"Don't worry…" Ken smugly stated, "We'll be there in no time."

"What're you talking about, kid?" Teddy asked, unaware of Anna's giggling reply, as Teddy and these two young kids suddenly sped up, breaking barriers as they suddenly arrived in the middle of Ellay.

"How in…?" Teddy asked, stunned, after he recovered.

"What?" Anna smugly replied, almost demeaning the older teenager, "You didn't know we could teleport?"

"Impossible!" Teddy shouted back. He'd heard of such things, but (outside of Star Trek) he'd always thought such things like teleportation were just that… impossible.

"Teddy…" Ken replied, in his 'as-a-matter-of-fact'-like tone, "When you travel with us, you'll learn that almost nothing is impossible. Lloyd had to learn that, and so do you…"

"Lloyd…" Teddy asked, "…he's that four-eyed runt, right?" The tone of his voice showed less than the least amount of respect for their former traveling companion.

That remark stopped Ken in his tracks. Prepared to teach this brute a 'mental lesson' in respect that only a psychic can dish out, Anna suddenly placed a concerned hand on his shoulder.

"_Forget it, Ken…"_ she said, telepathically, _"King Kong here isn't worth it._"

Looking over his other shoulder at the accused party…

"Let's go and get this over with." he said as they continued.

Heading southwest from the other end of Ellay, taking the river north (via Teddy's guidance, based on his knowledge of the area) the team were immediately attacked by a trio of alien robots - two Starmen and an Ultra-Barbot.

Deciding to fight it out, they each applied a divide and conquer strategy, each focusing on a separate opponent - Anna and Ken each taking a Starman, while Teddy handled the Barbot.

A quick jumping slash from Teddy and his katana sliced the Ultra-Barbot in two, as Ken's smashed into one of the Starmen, forcing it to stagger back as it prepared for an attack, while the second Starman fired a psychic beam at Ken from behind. In a "no one treats him like that and gets away with it!" state, Anna fired an even stronger beam at the assaulting Starman. Teddy even joined in on the hate parade as his sword finished the said Starman off as Ken's bat/club finished off the other one, allowing the team to pass through.

"Are you OK, Ken?" Anna asked, concerned.

"Yeah… I'm fine." Ken replied, as a light blush covered his cheeks, "Thanks."

"N-no problem." she replied, wearing an even darker shade of red as she tried in vain to avoid his gaze.

"Hey!" Teddy called out, snapping the two teens out of their trance, "Either get a room or come on! We're wasting valuable daylight!"

"Oh, how I'd like to get him alone again for just one minute…" Ken grumbled.

"_Just remember to save some for me."_ Anna replied, albeit telepathically. At least the smile she gave him brought him out of his mood as they continued on.

Continuing north…

"It'd be safest if we stay near the river." Teddy said, following the brook's twists and turns. The only thing they had to worry about were the vicious flocks of seagulls that flew around the area, each fighting for their own flock's territory.

Again, taking a 'divide and conquer' strategy, Teddy's sliced at a dive-bombing seagull, hearing it squawk as the bird fell to the ground like a plane that had just lost a dogfight. (Or a duck that's just been shot…) As one of the seagulls managed to serious peck at Anna's head, the other seagull pretty much bobbed and hovered midair, preparing for an attack, while Ken knocked at it as Anna fired a (tempered) psychic beam at the assailing bird - however both (though hit) birds were still flying.

"Incoming!" Teddy cried, as one of the seagulls dove towards him. However, a strike through the bird's breast area skewered it as Teddy cockily removed the dead bird from his sword with the sole of his boot. As for the remaining seagull, All Ken had to do was swing at it, knocking it out as it fell to the ground.

Distraught that they were in the presence of someone who'd slaughter innocent animals like that, Ken and Anna held their tongue as Ken used his Life-Up spell on Anna - those last two battles combined took their toll on her.

"I've been meaning to ask." Ken asked, as they made their way to their next destination.

"Shoot, squirt." Teddy replied, not even turning his oversized head.

"What're you going to do? I mean, after we help you avenge your parent?"

Sighing, wishing that he had a cigarette, "Turn myself in." Teddy replied.

"You will?" Anna asked, skeptical.

"Yeah… This life of crime's getting a little bit _too_ boring for my taste." Teddy replied, "Besides, once I've avenged my parents - I won't have any more reason to be runin' 'round like this any more, so…"

"Really?" Ken asked, not too sure about what he was saying was true - even both his and Anna's mental skills a human lie detectors were coming back as 'inconclusive'…

"And if you die before you do any of this?" Anna asked.

Teddy shrugs his shoulders in reply, "I guess I just saved the state the expense of a trial, then."

That remark chilled his two traveling companions to the bone. Still, it proved to them that he was determined to have his revenge, or at least die trying.

Still following the river's shoreline path, they crossed a bridge to this old hermit's cabin. The old man, a retired doctor with a love for the outdoors, allowed them to sleep in either one of the cabin's two bedrooms. Like in Magicant, Ken and Teddy were forced to bunk together while Anna got her own room.

Thanking the old man for his hospitality the following morning, the gang headed west from the house, taking the long and winding pathway, until they finally reached a cavern.

"Mt. Itoi…" Teddy said, looking towards the sky at the massive mountain - one of the highest and widest mountains in the area.

"Is this where…?" Anna asked, however Teddy shrugged them off.

"Come on…" Teddy said, "What we're after's through this cave."

The cave was naturally carved throughout the interior of the massive Mt. Itoi. Traveling blind, Ken and Anna had this sickening feeling that whatever they had come to face didn't want them here. It even sent a pair of its BlueStarmen, a more powerful upgrade to what they'd been fighting, to attack.

Going on the offensive, Ken and Teddy ganged up on one of the BlueStarmen, effectively destroying it as Anna caused the other one to go into a critical situation, even though it got a weak punch at Ken from behind. From there, all Teddy had to do was thrust his saber into the BlueStarman's chest, causing it to spark and explode.

"That was almost _too_ easy…" Teddy said, seething his sword.

"Don't underestimate whatever it is we're facing…" Ken said.

"Right… Whatever you say, kid." Teddy replied, as he continued on with his personal blind vendetta.

Hastily using his Life-Up spell, Ken sighed as he and Anna rushed off to catch up to Teddy.

Spelunking, it seemed that these BlueStarmen were the only major threat these kids had to get through. Another thing they'd noticed about these things were that they only seemed to attack in pairs.

The next time a pair of these interstellar robots attacked, Teddy slashed at one while Ken destroyed the other with a single, critical blow from his baseball bat. Anna, who aimed her beam at the remaining BlueStarman, was stunned to see that it had missed, while Teddy effortlessly finished it off like he did with that other one a little earlier, a straight thrust through the robot's chest, causing it to spark and explode.

"I don't get it." Anna said, worriedly looking at her hands, "My beam missed… that's never happened to me before."

"We all strike out sometimes…" Ken replied, reassuring her, "We just have to walk back up to the plate and keep on swinging."

Deciding to take it as it was, (though feeling somewhat better from Ken's baseball reference about life) all Anna could reply was, "I guess…" as she followed the boys through more of the mountain's vast system of cavern.

Taking cavern after cavern in the long and winding pathways for what seemed like hours, they finally had some more action, and a bit of variety, as they were attacked by this walking brain.

Before the trio could attack, Teddy was struck by creature's lightning bolt, which his sword somehow deadened.

"Damn you!" Teddy yelled as his return attack was even more fierce, though it failed to pierce the brain's glass protective shell. Ken, in the meantime, knocked the monstrosity off its feet, while Anna froze it in its tracks with a psychic blizzard, making the glass surrounding the brain extremely fragile. The final blow came when Teddy jabbed his sword through the glass, shattering it as his blade viciously impaled the walking brain in its main body part as it melted away, defeated.

"Gag me…" Anna said, about ready to puke.

Still, Ken used his healing powers to settle her stomach, much to Anna's relief, as both of them used their psychic abilities to restore some of Teddy's overall fighting health - that lightning strike he took _did_ take quite a bit out of him…

Finally making their way out of the cave, Ken breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally!" Anna said, tired.

"Don't celebrate yet, little girl." Teddy said, unfazed, "We still have a long way to go to reach the top."

"You mean…" Anna replied. As she and Ken looked up, they were dismayed to see they'd only made it about less than halfway up the mountain.

"That's right…" Teddy replied, almost like a sympatric US Army Drill Sergeant, (if there ever _is _such a thing) "We've only scratched the surface. It's all uphill from here." Looking to the horizon, "We'll have to set up camp, soon. This place is even more dangerous at night."

Moaning and groaning, the team carried on, all the while looking for a more suitable place to spend the night…


	11. Teddy's Death and Lloyd's Return

**XI**

_Teddy's Death and Lloyd's Return_

Sighing, Ken finally said, "Well… we'd better get started." as he and his two traveling companions continued on with their trek up Mt. Itoi. Climbing the mountain from the outside couldn't be as dangerous, let alone as difficult, as exploring it from the inside had been, right?

Halfway up, until they could find a suitable camp, they were attacked by a pair of Megaborgs - robotic Japanese Samurai.

"Holy…" Teddy said, knowing he could never truly face one Samurai, let alone two of them at once. Even _he_ wasn't that good.

Without hesitating, Ken used his bat, slicing a rift between the two beasts as they were both sucked into the fourth dimension.

Seeing what had just happened, Teddy stood there, dumbfounded to the point his trademark sunglasses would've slid off.

"What the Hell was **that**!" he finally asked.

"That?" Ken asked, "Just a little escape technique I came up with." he nonchalantly explained, used to the questions by now.

"What happened? Where'd they go?"

"The Fourth Dimension…" Ken replied to Teddy's question - not even missing a beat.

"One of these days you'll have to teach me how to do that." Anna said, though not as surprised as Teddy was when she first saw Ken's signature escape move in action.

"The Fourth Dimension! But…?" Teddy replied.

"Teddy!" Ken replied, interrupting his oversized companion, "There're some things that _can't_ be explained, even _if_ you see them with your own eyes."

Bringing up the rear, Teddy hastily followed the two younger travelers, who were both seen squeezing these weird colored stoned up against their foreheads as they walked.

Climbing up the mountain's next three levels…

"It's getting dark out…" Teddy stated, "…and even with that trick of your's, kid, this still ain't no place to be after dark."

Seeing Teddy was right, for once, Ken and Anna followed him west down the mountain's path, until they came across this old man's wooden cabin.

"Maybe whoever lives there…" Anna said.

While Ken shrugged his shoulders, "_We might as well ask._" he said, telepathically, as Anna knocked on the door.

Told they could enter, the old hermit was more than glad to have some company for a change. Even though the old man obviously preferred to be left alone, it _was_ sometimes nice to have company once every blue moon. (Of course, the next blue moon wasn't supposed to occur until late next year. But really, who can wait that long?)

"How happy I am that you came to see me." the old man said, beating the kids to the mark, "I know what you would like me to do. You're each welcome to stay the night and share a warm meal, if you so wish."

"Are you sure it's safe to trust this guy?" Teddy whispered to Ken.

"He's sincere enough." Ken replied in an equally hushed tone, "We can trust him."

"I hope you're right…"

"He is." Anna replied, chiming in as the old man prepared their rooms, "Both Ken and I can feel it."

Taking their word for it, Teddy reluctantly complied.

As the house's owner led them to their rooms, Teddy abruptly stepped aside, coughing.

"*Ahem…* Um… I'm, uh… sure you two would like to be alone." he said, as Anna slightly smiled, aware of what he was alluding to. That healing technique she had used on Ken after that dragon knocked him out, well… to say the least, she appeared to have been more than distraught when she saw him hit the ground. "I'll just, uh… make a few phone calls and wait out here." he added, struggling to come up with an excuse as he made his way to an old telephone in the cabin's main room.

"What's with…?" Ken asked, bewildered.

"Come on, Ken." Anna said, almost forcibly leading him into one of the bedrooms, closing the door behind her - even though, for some reason, she kept it unlocked…

"*humph* Phone call, my ass." Ken grumbles, "He's probably looking for some excuse to go off and smoke a cigarette, or something…" That's when he noticed something unusual about his friend. "Anna? Is something wrong? You look…"

"Ken…" Anna interrupted him, almost pleading with him, "please stay with me."

"Huh? Oh, sure." Ken replied, thinking nothing about her strange behavior.

Around that time, a cassette deck automatically turned on, and that new, slow techno-style song "Fallin' Love" suddenly started to play - as if by psychic command.

"That's weird." Ken said, looking at the tape player from the center of the generously sized room.

"What luck." Anna replied, getting Ken's questioning expression in return, "I love this song." almost swooning in a near sensual manner, "Would you… like to dance with me?" she hesitantly asks, leading him to the center of the room, hoping he'd accept.

"Huh?" Ken replied, snapping out of his bewildered state of mind, "Oh… alright." That's when he started doing, what he thought was, dancing - however, it looked like something similar to what would be seen in a bad rip-off of Footloose and Dirty Dancing. Something Anna didn't appreciate…

"**No…!**" she said, stopping him.

"What's wrong?" Ken asked, stunned, "You asked if you wanted to dance."

"I meant…" she replied, guiding him into a more _appropriate_ positions, "…_real_ dancing."

"I… never actually learned how…" Ken hesitated.

"Don't worry…" Anna interrupted, "I'll lead." even though, knowing full well that (in this situation) it was usually the other way around. About halfway through the song, both kids started to let instinct take over. "For a beginner, you're not half bad." she said.

"Thanks…" he said, "…You're actually a pretty good teacher." This caused Anna to blush at the complimenting remark. "Is something wrong?" he asked again, aware that she was, for some reason, avoiding eye contact with him - something that just seemed a little _too_ out of the ordinary for her.

"Ken…" she suddenly asked, "Do you love me?"

The stunned look on his face told you that the question hit Ken straight out of left field.

"Why do you ask?" he asked, showing signs of nervousness.

"I want to know." she sternly stated, "And remember, I can tell if you're lying to me."

"Can't you just read my mind?" Ken asked, still trying to avoid the situation.

"Yes… But I want to hear you tell whether you do or not."

Put on the spot, Ken took a deep breath, trying to follow his mother's advice True, as popular and as well respected he was at his school, he had been in a similar situation to the one he was in now quite a few times in his short life - usually around February the 14th, otherwise known as either Valentines Day, or (as his less popular friends liked to call it, "Singles Awareness Day.") Usually, he felt he was often _forced_ to choose just one girl for the occasion, out of at least two or three that wanted his attention (his sisters not included, but that's another story altogether), and each time, his mother would always tell him to listen to his heart over anything else, since it would do him wrong… And usually that meant breaking _everybody's_ heart but his own. Still, as he literally shuts off his conscious brain… (as well as telling his more 'personal' regions to just shut up…)

"Well…?" Anna pressed, interrupting his train of though.

It was almost too easy for Ken to put Pippi down - he didn't care about her the way he cared for…

That's when it finally hit him like a ton of falling bricks. His answer was obvious…

Taking a deep breath, Ken bowed his head, avoiding her anticipating glare, feeling somewhat defeated, he finally replied, "Yes, Anna… I… do love you."

Blushing, relieved that this weight has finally been lifted, "Oh Ken… You don't know what this means to me. I've loved you for such a long time…" she started sniffing, tearing up, "…ever since I first saw you in my dreams." Starting to cry, "And when you were knocked out by that dragon, I was so afraid I was going to lose you…" Then, unexpectedly, in the heat of the moment, "Oh, Ken!" she literally glomped on top of him, causing both of them to nearly lose their balance. "I don't ever want to lose you again…"

As time stood still around them, her mouth moved towards Ken's, closing her eyes and puckering her lips. But before they could finally make contact, Teddy suddenly burst through the door, ruining the moment.

"Why're you two blushing?" he asked.

"What do you want, Teddy?" Ken angrily replied, demanding to know.

"Sorry to bother you two…" Teddy replied, "But we'd better get going." Getting out of the way so they can exit the room, "Come on, let's get out of here."

Reaching the house's front door, strange noises could be heard from outside.

"You guys hear that?"

Listening, the mismatched trio heard, what sounded like, cannons firing off in strict succession.

"Yeah…" Ken said, uneasy.

"They're coming from outside." Teddy added.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Anna said, as they were blown away as the house was destroyed around them.

"Everyone OK!" Teddy asked, first to rise from the rubble.

"Yeah…" Ken painfully replied, helping Anna out.

"What was that…?" she asked.

They got their answer, as another war robot, similar to the one the kids had destroyed with that tank in the Yucca Desert, dangerously approached the houses debris. This time, the robot was codenamed "R-7038", and it was bigger, badder, and heavier built than the last one. The robotic beast had already mercilessly slaughtered the house's owner in an attempt to get at these kids. Sadly, whatever was left of the old hermit was far too gruesome to describe.

Stunned, Teddy recognized the robot - it was the creature that killed his parents so long ago. As untold fear rushed through him, he felt guilty for binging these kids here, knowing that if they'd died, it'd be because of him… Looking at the two kids, he immediately took charge. He knew that they couldn't beat this… thing - even tht kid's fourth dimension slip, or whatever he called it, wouldn't be enough to tackle it. Now, he finally saw it was a huge mistake on his part to bring them here, and he wasn't going to let them die… that is, if he had anything to say about it…

"Get behind me!" Teddy demanded, taking charge, "**Now!**"

"But…" Ken protested.

"**Do it!**" Teddy interrupted, using himself as a human shield to cover both kids as he took the blunt of the robot's next melee attack. As the robot's cannon fire all but missed the huddled trio, those that did make connect, Teddy took the blunt of, in hopes of keeping both these kids alive.

As the robot came in for the kill, an electric ball-like blast came zipping towards it, causing the robot to short out, making it stagger back and fall off the cliff, where it exploded the second it made contact with the ground at the foot of the mountain.

Rolling up on its treadles, a army tank, similar to one the kids rode in the desert, pulled up to the unconscious human mound - as the tank's driver, Lloyd, popped out.

"Oh shoot!" he said, seeing his unconscious friends lying nearby. Dragging them inside the panzer, Lloyd drove off to Ellay's hospital, somehow avoiding either causing a scene, or police intervention, where the team rested to be treated and recover from their life threatening wounds.

After what seems like hours, even days, Ken and Anna finally woke up in separate hospital rooms - both unaware of just how much time has really passed.

Moaning, Ken props himself up in his bed, and only one thought crosses his mind…

"Anna!" Getting up, "Dear God, please don't tell me…!"

"_I'm fine…_" he could hear her say, telepathically.

"_Where are you?_"

"_In the room next to yours._"

"_Hang on, I'll…_"

"_NO, wait!_" Anna saying this stopped Ken in his tracks, "_I'm… not exactly, fully dressed yet…_"

"_Oh…_" Ken stated, blushing at the thought.

"_I can tell what you're thinking, Ken…_" he heard her say, chastising him.

"Sorry…" Ken replied, out loud.

Hearing her lighthearted laugh, "_It's fine… I should be ready in a minute. I'll meet you in the hall._"

Leaving his room, Ken was surprised to see Lloyd waiting for them.

"Ken!" he said, getting up from his bench.

"You don't know how much we've missed you…" Ken replied, greeting him back.

"How's Teddy?" Anna asked, exiting her hospital room.

Hesitating, Lloyd replied, "He's in ICU. The doctors treating him don't really think he'll live."

"Oh, no…" Anna replied, breaking down, "He can't die. Not after how we've been treating him."

"Come on…" Ken said, holding her up as they leave for the ICU area.

"Hey, wait!" Lloyd yelled, catching up.

"Do our families know about us?" Anna asked, concerned.

"They told them you guys were highly stable, and that you'll be able to leave anytime you guys wanted."

"That's something, I guess…" Ken replied, not wanting his mother and the twins to worry about him.

"Aw, I'm glad to see you kids are up and about." one of the attending doctors said as the kids passed by them.

"How's Teddy?" Ken asked.

"Not good, I'm afraid." the doctor said, "I doubt he'll survive much longer."

This caused Anna to break down even further.

"Can we see him?"

"In a little while, but not for very long, though." the doctor said, passing the kids by.

"By the way…" Ken said, turning to Lloyd while they sat in the waiting room, looking at him with a highly suspicious eye, "I heard somewhere that the ambulance that brought us in was an army tank…"

Lloyd gulped.

"How'd you convince that pilot to let you drive it, again?"

"Uh, well…" Lloyd stammered, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"Lloyd!" Anna started pressing down, equally curious.

Knowing he couldn't get anywhere, Lloyd confessed…

"After he fixed the tank up, he had the same deal going on as before. I took ten private trips and…"

"He was obligated to give you back the tank." Ken replied, figuring out the rest.

"On the grounds that I don't destroy it…_ again_."

"Lloyd, you really _are_ a genius!" Anna almost squealed.

"Yeah, but…" Ken asked, "How'd you afford it…"

"That's the other thing…" Lloyd stammered, "The Franklin Badge wasn't the _only_ thing you left with me."

Getting suspicious, Ken hastily pulled out his wallet, only to notice his ATM card was missing.

"You're not mad, are you?" Lloyd asked, "I swear to God it was out of my own account. From winning all those science fairs…"

"He's telling the truth on that part…" Anna said, coming to their friend's defense, "…he really did pay out of his own picket."

Quickly cooling down, "How can I be mad?" Ken asked, stunning his two friends, "If you didn't _borrow_ my card, to get your money or mine, or even Anna's, we'd all be dead." Smiling, that calmed his friends down.

"How'd you know we were in danger."

"It was mostly me being at the right place at the right time." Lloyd explained, "While taking the tank on that joyride, I saw you three traveling from afar, so I followed you guys at a far enough distance. I saw that giant robot, and…" he said, "…here we are."

"Thanks, Lloyd." Anna said, hugging him, squeezing Ken's hand.

"So, what's been happening while I was away?"

"Well… in Magicant, our private motel room's been redecorated." Ken commented.

"I see…" Lloyd replied, disappointed as he put two-and-two together, "I just hope whoever put that stuff there returned it." Sighing, "Anything else?"

"Ken and I are an official couple, now." Anna cheerfully replied, clinging to Ken.

"You are?" Lloyd asked, getting guilty expressions from both of them, "Well, congratulations, guys. When did this happen?"

"Not long before that robot attacked us."

"Well, I'm happy for you guys." he said. Even though he really was, he couldn't help but feel a small pang of jealousy over his best friends success, still feeling that the jocks always got the girl. "So, Ken…" he finally asked, "do I get to be best man at your wedding?"

The stunned look on Ken's face was priceless.

"If you're not, then there really _will_ be Hell to pay." Anna said, adding to the humiliating humor.

Getting laughs at Ken's expense, Lloyd thought, seeing they were obviously happy together, "It couldn't happen to a nicer pair. I just hope they last… I wonder if that girl me met in that shack in the swamp's still available…"

Before Ken could come to his own defense, a nurse walked out of Teddy's ICU room.

"How is he?" Ken asked as he was the first of the three to say something.

"Not good." the nurse replied, "He's fading fast." Pausing, the nurse delivers Teddy's request, "He does want to see all of you, though."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Ken was the first to enter, while the others were not far behind him.

Inside the darkly lit room, they were shocked to see Teddy hooked up to various machines, each struggling to keep him alive. On one side of his bed, a heart monitor beeps in succession, though the readouts only get worse with each consecutive *beep*.

His body, though bandaged up, is a bloody mess compared to that brief moment from when they last saw him alive. Still vaguely conscious, he smiles, glad to see that they were both alive.

"What happened?" Ken asked.

"When Teddy shielded you from the robot's attack, he took the most blunt from the robot's attack." the attending doctor explained.

"Is he…?" Anna asked, concerned.

"Not yet." the doctor replied. Although the doctor was doing his best to keep Teddy alive for as long as possible, although it was obvious his best efforts would soon be in vain. "But, at this rate, I'm afraid he won't be alive much longer."

"Oh, no…" Anna said, sobbing on Ken's shoulder.

"Though, he has made it clear that he wants to talk to you kids." the doctor replied, ushering them to approach their fallen ally.

"Brute strength wasn't enough to beat them." Teddy struggled to say, "I know now that peace can return to us." Struggling, Teddy fails to prop himself up, so he just shouted to Lloyd, "Kid! I guess you weren't so weak after all… *coughing* Lloyd… now is the time for you to fight for yourself."

"I guess it's the weakling's turn, now…" Lloyd struggled to say, "You just stay here and wait."

As Lloyd weakly smiled, Teddy returned it, knowing full well what the young boy had meant - those were the same words Teddy had used when he took Lloyd's place back at the Live House.

Choking, Teddy tells them, "I forgive you…" before the heart monitor's straight line and steady, monotone buzz were telltale signs that, for him, it was finally over.

As Anna said a prayer for their fallen friend, the doctor place the bed sheets over his body like a shroud.

"What'd he mean by that?" the doctor asked, just picking up the phone, ready to call the mortuary.

"We didn't exactly treat him like a friend when we first met him." Ken said, holding back the tears as Anna let it go, "In fact, we pretty much treated him like an outsider the whole time…" Grabbing the katana that had been placed to the side, Ken laid it down flat on the deceased's chest like they would for a fallen knight.

"Well…" the doctor replied, "You three had better go on ahead. I'll take care of things from here on." The doctor was already on the line with Ellay's top funeral parlor.

"Thank you, Doctor." Ken replied. As they were about to leave, Ken stopped, and as he faced the doctor, he said, "If nothing else, we want him to be buried with that sword and his best sunglasses. They both meant quite a bit to him."

The doctor knowingly nodded, and said he'd make the undertaker aware of their wishes for the deceased as Lloyd left with Ken and Anna as they were finally discharged from the hospital. Whatever had sent that giant robot after them had to come from the top of Mt. Itoi - and whatever it was, it was going down! Now, it was personal…


	12. Promises Fulfilled

**XII**

_Promises Fulfilled_

Though the newly reunited team was grieving over the loss of their friend, still they headed back up Mt. Itoi, less bent on revenge than they were in hope of finally finding to their numerous nagging answers. Without the aide of the tank, which Lloyd had to return to that old desert pilot, they had to ascend the mountain the hard way, starting with that God-awful cave - which they were both surprised and relieved to find that they were able to make it through the cavern without a hitch - those that did stand in their way, however, were easily swept away by Ken's Fourth Dimension Slip quick escape technique.

Passing by the rubble that was once that kind old hermit's house, the kids stopped, making sure to give the old man at least some sort of decent burial. Still, Anna seemed to be the most remorseful among them - seeing that the spot where she confessed her emotions to the first true love of her young life, which would always hold a special place in her heart, was now reduced to a barely recognizable heap of rubble.

Resting while they could - doing so in Magicant would've been nothing but time consuming, having to start from the bottom of the mountain over and over again each time they returned from the magical realm, especially when time was _not_ on their side. From there, they continued climbing up the mountain, where they were attacked by this "Oh-Mook" a walking, above water squid-like alien.

As the alien squid nimbly dodged Ken's bat, it used a psychic block on Lloyd, to no avail, since Lloyd (unknown to the alien beast) was the only one in their party who didn't have any form of psychic abilities whatsoever - this opened up an opportunity for Anna to fire her strongest psychic beam, however the squid "pretended" to shrug it off. Even a shot from Lloyd's air gun did little effect against it. However, what finished the squid off was another, well placed grand slam from Ken's bat, turning the squid into extra-terrestrial calamari.

When they finally reached the other end of the mountain cliff, what they found almost drove them all to tears - they had to pass this massive lake in the center of the mountain range, where all their answers were most likely hiding.

"Look!" Lloyd said, rushing the team over to an old fishing boat as soon as they reached solid land.

"What luck!" Anna said.

"I wonder who it belongs to?" Ken asked.

"Whoever it belongs to…" Lloyd noted, "Damn…" he stated.

"Damn?" Ken asked, "Damn's not good."

"This boat's motor's broken." Lloyd said.

"Can't you fix it?" Anna asked.

Sighing, "More than likely I could." Lloyd replied, "But it'll probably take me some time, though."

"Don't worry. If anyone could fix it, Our Boy Lloyd, the world's greatest technical genius, can." Ken commented, slapping him on the back, almost making him lose his glasses.

"Aw, come on, I'm not _that_ great." Lloyd modestly replied, "America's greatest, maybe. But definitely not the world's."

"Hey!" they heard this deep voice was approaching them, "What're you kids doing?"

"Busted…" Ken whispered.

"Uh…" they each struggled for an explanation.

"Planning to steal my boat, aren't ya?" the aged angler inquired.

"No, I swear we aren't." Ken pleaded, "Right, guys?"

"Right…" Lloyd and Anna chimed in.

"Well…" the angler said, "It won't do you any good. Y'all can't get far in it. That outboard motor's been broken for months, now." Letting up his angered demeanor, "Plus, I've been planning on selling it for some time…"

"Sell it?" Ken asked, getting an idea, "How much do you want for it?"

"Not too much." the angler said, "Maybe around $200~$250."

Not having that much on them, since paying that hospital bill nearly bankrupted them, they asked, "If we fix it up, will you be willing to drop the price?"

Thinking it over, the old man relented. "Very well. Hell, if you kids fix it, I'll let you have it for nothing."

"Sold!" Ken said as Lloyd took it as a cue to get to work, fixing the aged Evinrude to near pristine condition in almost no time flat.

"Well, I'll be…" the old man said, amazed, "Alright, a deal's a deal. Consider it yours."

"Thanks, Mister." Ken replied.

"Now go, before I change my mind!" the old man growled as the kids took their now seaworthy vessel out into the middle of the lake.

Piloting the boat towards the other side of the lake, the waters suddenly started to become extraordinarily, yet inexplicably choppy, as Lloyd, who was steering the vessel, fought with the ship's controls as Ken and Anna clung to each other and the sides of the boat to keep from being thrown overboard as much as it was as an attempt to provide each other comfort in this disturbingly freakish turbulent storm - and neither one of them were fairly decent swimmers.

"Ken!" Anna screamed, "I'm scared…"

"Don't worry…" Ken replied, exhausting every effort he had trying to sooth his crying girlfriend.

That's when a look of shock and dread stretched across Lloyd's face…

"Whirlpool ahoy!" he yelled, showing his friends the massive, swirling funnel sucking the water around it inward like a massive black hole. "Brace yourselves!" he warned, doing his best and then some to steer the boat away from the funnel, but to no avail - the boat was easily sucked inward…

Although it seemed that all was lost - mysteriously, an air pocket enveloped around the three young pre-teenagers as they were sucked down into this underwater chamber - the source of the mysterious whirlpool.

Coming to as they made a loud and abrupt impact against cold, hard steel, the kids were rudely awakened, yet miraculously (and thankful to be) unharmed. Getting up, they saw that they were in some weird, underwater stronghold. Although it appeared that this place hasn't seen a human step foot in this place in decades, if ever, the latent artificial aura of the place gave off was almost… alien in nature. One thing was for certain, though - they naturally couldn't leave the way they came in, and there was no other obvious exit in sight.

"Where are we?" Anna asked, groggily.

"I don't know…" Ken responded as he came to.

"Ken… there's no way out!" she added, panicking as she clung to him.

"There has to be a way." Ken assured her.

"Look!" Lloyd said, approaching a panel-style elevator, which stuck out from one of the fortress' walls, "Here's an elevator. And the controls still seem to be functioning."

"Well…" Ken said, pulling his pant waist up, "Let's take it. It has to lead to an exit."

Doing so, they were dismayed to find the elevator only had one direction - down, as it took them deeper into the stronghold.

"I wonder who built this place…?" Lloyd asked as the elevator finally made contact with the floor.

"I'm starting to wonder _what_ built this place." Ken replied, as the team continued exploring their present location, heading left from the elevator - going right would've led to an obvious dead end - going through one abandoned corridor after another, amazed that the stronghold was as sterile as it was.

"Whoever, or whatever, it was that build this place appears to be long gone." Anna added, unable to pick up any life forms in the entire establishment.

Walking for, what seemed like, hours, continuing from one room to the next…

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Anna said.

"Yeah, it's almost too quiet around here." Lloyd added.

"Either way, we have to press on - our exit may be in the last room."

"But which one is it?" Anna complained, "These seem to go on forever."

"Hey!" Lloyd said, finally noticing something out of the ordinary, "Where do you guys think this ladder go?" Lloyd asked, seeing it had no end in sight.

"Where else?" Ken replied, "It goes up." That little sarcastic remark caused Lloyd to face palm and Anna to titter, "Let's go."

Leading them up the ladder, with Anna taking up the rear (she was wearing a dress, after all, so what'd you expect? Neither boy wanted to be knocked out by Anna's trusted frying pan.) they finally reached the base's supposed exit - except that it was being guarded by a twenty foot-tall, red, apparently feminine, humanoid robot.

"Wow, look at it." Lloyd said, astonished at what he saw, "It looks like something straight out of Metropolis!"

"What?" Anna asked.

"You mean that city where Superman's from?" Ken asked, knowing that Lloyd was a huge Man of Tomorrow fan boy.

"Not in this case…" Lloyd said, exasperated, "It's an old German silent film. Next to Star Wars, it's considered one of the best science fiction movies ever made."

Before Ken could argue that Star Wars was _the_ best sci-fi film ever made, or Lloyd could explain the other movie's plot any further, the robot suddenly, and inexplicably. came to life as soon as it felt Ken's psychic presence…

"MY NAME IS EVE…" the robot said in a mechanical, yet feminine sounding voice. However, her monologue she was reciting came off as nothing more than a simple, yet pristine recording, "I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU. MY CREATOR WAS GEORGE…"

"George?" Ken thought, as everything that has been happening lately was slowly, yet finally beginning to make sense.

"HE WAS TAKEN TO THE END OF THE UNIVERSE… THEN BROUGHT BACK LATER. I AM HERE TO PROTECT YOU. THAT IS MY PURPOSE."

After her recording ceased, the underwater fortress' protective glass walls began to crack as an explosion of water soon followed, instantly flooding the base. However, the kids were saved as EVE's protective programming incased Ken and his friends in a protective shield, keeping all of them safe and together as she effortlessly took them all to the surface on the other side of Mt. Itoi.

Not getting much of a chance to catch their breath, the team was attacked by a pair of Oh-Mooks. Without even drawing their weaponry, EVE set her sights on one of the alien squids, obliterating it with one of her many weapons, as the other Oh-Mook, unfazed by to loss of its partner, got ready for an attack, only to be given the same treatment as EVE's laser weapon instantly blew it apart, leaving a trio of stupefied kids in its wake.

"Astounding!" Lloyd said, being the first to recover from seeing EVE in battle, "Who was this George character, anyway?" he asked Ken.

"He was my Great-Grandfather." Ken explained, slightly miffed that Lloyd (unintentionally) called his ancestor a 'character', "What happened with him has been somewhat of a family mystery for the last eighty years."

"What happened?" Anna asked, intrigued.

"No one really knows…" Ken explained further, "But, from what I remember hearing, one night he and his wife, Great-Grandmother Maria, suddenly disappeared. He mysteriously disappears, with little to no memory of whatever had happened to him _or_ his wife. Sadly, she was never seen or heard from again. After that, he became somewhat of a recluse, living the rest of his life as a shut-in."

"Amazing…" Lloyd replied as they went on. Even a pair of Titanians, the only other enemy brave enough to challenge them, (which were both stone-skinned, alien scorpions) easily fell to EVE's offensive systems. Even the hit's the robot did take, she simply shrugged off as if they were nothing. So far, it seemed that EVE was invincible.

That is, until the team's progress was halted by an explosion caused by, what appeared to be, a small comet.

"What the…?" Ken asked as the fire and smoke began to clear, revealing a round shell. As it popped open, another giant war robot emerged.

"Oh no…" Anna said, shaking, "It's another of those robotic devils!"

"Brace yourselves, guys!" Ken demanded as the robot - R-7038XX - attacked.

Immediately, EVE blocked R-7038XX attack with one of her own, only to give the opposing robot a new target. Even though Ken got a swing in with his bat, to the opposing robot is was like the buzzing of a fly - it didn't even register it. Even less so when a shot from Lloyd's gun and Anna's most powerful psychic beam didn't even touch the robot's nearly impenetrable, otherworldly metal hide. For now, EVE was these kids only hope to survive - and it didn't look like she could last much longer - Unfortunately, EVE has seemed to have met her match.

As EVE attacked, she dodged R-7038XX's return attack while the kids remained on guard, preparing themselves for the worst, EVE's attacks seemed to be growing weaker and weaker with each consecutive blow - however, all EVE could do was dodge the opposing robot's slow yet powerful attack.

Still, every now and then Ken and his friends attacked, though, they did little to aide EVE in her losing battle as she still managed to avoid the wardroid's attack, as hers kept getting noticeably weaker. To their dismay, R-7038XX continuously shrugged off the kids' weak attacks as it continued to focus on turning EVE into a pile of scrap.

Finally getting a lucky punch in, EVE staggered back from R-7038XX's overpowered blow, as the humans she was created to guard were starting to worry. Still, EVE was able to dodge most of the clunky R-7038XX's more devastating attacks.

Finally getting one more major hit in, R-7038XX sent EVE staggering back, as sparks started to fly from her chest area. With a sense of surprisingly human-like artificial intelligence, as her warning systems made it clear what was going to happen, her dying electronic brain told her "If I'm going, then this overgrown rust bucket's coming with me…"

"NO!" Ken cried, as he and his friends saw Ken's Great-Grandfather's prized creation about to be destroyed as EVE seemed to have activated a self-destruct mechanism, or like this TV show Ken had seen when his father took him and his family to Japan for that vacation/business trip a few years back - where these five multi-colored superheroes beats the tar out of some random monster in a giant robot before they deliver the final blow, causing the monster to explode in a blaze of glory - she latches herself onto the R-7038XX robot. As EVE's short countdown ended, both EVE and R-7038XX were destroyed in the explosion.

Shielding themselves from the flying shrapnel, Ken and his friends were surprised to see EVE's body was (mostly) in tact, while absolutely nothing remained of R-7038XX, other than its vile memory.

Examining the wreckage, the seventh piece of Queen Mary's song began to play…

…_~"Love Grows Strong, Now"~…_

With a heavy heart, there was only one last piece to the song Ken and his friends needed to collect in order to fulfill Queen Mary's request - and the eighth and final piece had to be at the top of Mt. Itoi.

Though worn, the gang continued their trek up the mountain. With their strongest weapon, EVE, gone, the gang knew they had to pick their battles wisely, relying on Ken's Fourth Dimension Slip technique to weed through the more… persistent adversaries. Others, it was easier to simply run away - like a walking star bomber, who simply tripped in its path, allowing the kids to make a quick and easy escape.

One of the more 'shocking' adversaries they had to face stunned the kids to the core - a robot that appeared to have been made from EVE's old parts. Forced to run away, the robot struck Lloyd from behind, nearly knocking him out. Still, they were lucky to have escaped with their lives. Out of the robot's sights, Ken and Anna used their psychic abilities to heal Lloyd as they continued on with their climb up Mt. Itoi. Unfortunately, Ken had to used up the last bit of energy his PSI-Stone could give him, reducing it to a mere rock. Even though Anna offered him what was left of hers, he refused - her PSI-Stone only had enough of a charge for one more use, and since she was (technically) the psychic offensive powerhouse of the team, he felt that she'd need all she could get from her stone when the time came to use it…

Still, after hours have seemed to have passed by, the kids finally made it to their destination - the summit of Mt. Itoi, where all that was waiting for them was a gnarled tombstone with a black crystal centerpiece. Approaching it, Ken noticed something… it was his Great-Grandfather George's grave.

"Welcome, Ken…" the tombstone miraculously, yet mysteriously and suddenly, started to speak, "I have always believed that you would find your way here." The voice was coming from the pulsating crystal…

"It talks…" Lloyd said, just barely audible.

"Quiet!" Anna replied, hushing their friend.

"Your Great-Grandmother Maria's love was scattered in the form of these little melodies…" the voice said, "I have the final melody. Listen… and remember…"

…_~"Sing A Melody Of Love"~…_

As it sang, the door to Ken's mind was ultimately opened as he finally remembered where he heard that song before - it was a lullaby that had been handed down in his family for the past few generations. A lullaby so simple and sweet, Ken couldn't figure out _why_ he couldn't have figured it out sooner that _this_ was the song Queen Mary was looking for - one that had been long lost to the halls of his forgotten memories.

With that, the stone grave marker started to crumble as the crystal burst into fragments, disappearing as soon as the shards hit the ground, they stopped glowing, as the trio was instantly transported back to the realm of Magicant. Having finally learned the song, they had one last piece of business to fulfill in the mystical realm - singing it to Queen Mary…

Escorted into the throne room, their presence was acknowledged by a more than delighted Queen Mary. Though Ken was used to the royal treatment, this was really the first time Lloyd and Anna had even _seen_ Magicant's ruler.

"Have you learned the song that I have requested?" she asked.

"Indeed, we have, Your Majesty." Ken replied.

"Please… sing it for me."

Taking a deep breath, since he still didn't considered himself that much of a singer, Ken and his two friends sang for Queen Mary from the bottom of their hearts…

…_~"Take A Melody"~…_

…_~"Simple As Can Be"~…_

…_~"Give It Some Voice"~…_

…_~"And Sweet Harmony"~…_

…_~"Raise Your Voices"~…_

…_~"All Day Long, Now"~…_

…_~"Love Grows Strong, Now"~…_

…_~"Sing A Melody Of Love"~…_

With that, Queen Mary's expression changed…

"Yes… That's right… That's the song." she said, somberly yet weakly smiling as long forgotten memories flooded back as she also began to sing with the most beautiful, angelic singing voice imaginable…

…_~"Love is the Power"~…_

…_~"Love is the Glory"~…_

…_~"Love is the Beauty"~…_

…_~"And the Joy of Spring"~…_

…_~"Love is the Magic"~…_

…_~"Love is the Story"~…_

…_~"Love is the Melody"~…_

…_~"We All Can Sing"~…_

As the to the song they'd just finished singing mysteriously began to play around them, as if it was being sung by the Heavenly choir, Queen Mary started crying…

"Oh, Giygas!" she struggled to say, tears flowing down her cheek, "I loved him… as if he were my own child…"

With that, the kids began to notice that the world of Magicant was beginning to fall apart - fading away as if by some kind of inexplicable magic.

"He was always wagging his little tail, just like a little pup…" she continued, as tears of sorrow flowing from her eyes like a tiny waterfall, "Except… except when I tried to sing him that lullaby."

By then, there was nothing left of the throne room, save for the Queen of Magicant herself, who was also beginning to fade away.

"George!" she cried, getting up from her throne, as her regal gown began to disappear, revealing the dress and hairstyle she wore the day she disappeared, all the way back on that summer night in 1907, "This is your wife, Maria…"

That statement, about her being Maria, as she called out for her beloved George, shocked Ken to the core. Hastily taking out that scores-old photograph of his Great-Grandmother from his backpack, his revelation was finally confirmed - though the picture was worn and faded, the young woman in the turn of the century clothing was unmistakable. He felt foolish for not recognizing her until now.

"I'm coming to join you…" she said, "My purpose is finally complete…" and with that and a rush of wind, Maria finally faded away to the afterlife into the arms of her long awaiting husband.

"Wait!" Ken yelled, pleading as the final remains of Magicant all faded away.

"Ken…" Anna said, trying her best to comfort her distraught boyfriend - who was grieving over the loss of a relative he'd only just met - seeing her die for a second time…

"I guess Magicant was nothing more than a highly elaborate mirage…" Lloyd said, in his barely audible voice, noticing they were back at the summit of Mt. Itoi - as if they'd never left in the first place. "…born of what was left of your Great-Grandmother's surviving consciousness."

"No shit, Sherlock!" Ken said, pissed.

"Well, excuse me, Watson! But…" Lloyd replied, offended.

"**Boys!**" Anna screamed, coming in between them before a single punch was thrown.

"**What?"** Both boys replied, turning their attention to Anna.

"Now's not the time to…" she started, before a violent storm started to brew overhead, as Ken and Lloyd's argument was soon forgotten when he felt an immensely overwhelming sensation of evil looming on the horizon. Not only did the mountain's small tremors open up a new cavern in the mountainside, somehow, it also told him that their final battle was just on the horizon…


	13. The Final Victory

**XIII**

_The Final Victory_

Exploring the newly exposed cavern, the kids noticed this strange, pulsating bright white light emanating from one of the cave's sub-caverns.

"What could that be?" Anna asked, curiously approaching.

"Anna, wait!" Ken warned, only to be ignored, "Damn…"

"Guys! Get over here!" she commanded them, ushering the boys toward the cavern.

"What is it?" Lloyd asked, before he was rendered speechless at what he saw.

"Holy…" Ken began to say, as the site got to him. What Anna had discovered wasn't just another cavern, but a chamber housing various pods containing dormant adult human bodies, each floating in this… ooze - like something out of some highly elaborate sci-fi movie.

"This must be the entire adult population of Youngtown." Lloyd observed, as they looked around.

"Oh, no…" Anna said, recognizing one of the adults in one of the tubes. "**Mommy!**" Anna cried, Oh, Dear God, What've they done to you?" Tears were streaming down her face, she finally gave up her feverish scratching at the tubes, trying in vain to release her mother.

"Those bastards…" Ken said, still in shock, "This is going too far!"

"Oh, the darkness is so thick…" Anna's telepathy picking up on her mother's latent thoughts, "Can't see you very well…"

"Mommy…?"

"Could it be…?" she asked, "Is it my little girl?"

"Mommy!" Anna eagerly replied, excited that her mother was still alive.

"Anna…" her mother said, trying to comfort her as best she could, "Don't try to rescue us now. The Mother Ship must be destroyed, first.

Withdrawing, Anna looked at her mother with tear-blurred vision. Wiping them away, she and the boys knew what needed to be done. Exiting the cavern, they found another pathway, leading to a steep cliff…

There, the raging storm only got worse as the wind started to pick up to near hurricane levels. Finally, the dark cloud cover broke apart like the Red Sea as this weird-looking space craft emerged from the skies - resting, hovering, to where (what appeared to be) the main cockpit still remained exposed over the cliff-side.

"Look at the size of that thing!" Lloyd said, stunned.

"What is it?" Anna asked.

"Giygas…" Ken said, with an emotional mix of calm and fear in his voice that was inexplicable. On guard, Ken and Anna immediately placed a psychic shield around themselves and Lloyd as they prepared for the worst…

Moving as close as they could to the edge of the cliff, the spaceship's bubble-like cockpit popped open, and as a burst of steam fizzed through, it revealed a seven foot tall, bluish-white, catlike humanoid alien. It's body appeared to have been made of nothing but skin and bones to the point you could literally see through it. Its tail, which appeared to be the thickest portion of its body, curled around, circling its body several times over. Its face, or what was obviously its head was triangular in shape, with glowing red eye sockets and horn-like ears that extended about a foot, at fifteen degree angles, on both sides of its head. It's feet and legs - all four were needle-like, almost like (extremely thin) mantis scythes - it was a wonder this thing could walk upright.

"Ken!" Giygas telepathically bellowed, in a surprisingly low and menacing voice. "I am grateful to your family." it continued, immediately shooting off a psychic attack, which effects were inexplicable, putting the kids' shield to work, which was the only reason they were able to survive, but not without taking some serious damage. Anna, who took the most damage, was given a restorative boost as Ken used his Life-Up healing spell on her, while she used her powers to strengthen the broken shield.

"Your Great-Grandparents, George and Maria, raised me." Giygas continued, blasting off another devastating, inexplicable psychic attack, while (for now) all the kids could do was stay on the defensive. Again, Ken and Anna had to use their own variation of Life-Up spells to keep each other holding on, while Lloyd used some Life-Up Cream - a balm that had similar effects of Ken and Anna's spell's weakest variation - it was still enough to keep him alive.

"But," Giygas continued, "George stole vital information from our planet that could be used to betray my people…" Again, Giygas continued his psychic assault. Though the kids survived, Anna was forced to strengthen the psychic shield surrounding the trio.

"…and now, one of his descendants is obstructing our plans, and must be stopped!" Giygas bellowed with fervent rage, "Ken! I am talking about you!" This time, Giygas' psychic attack focused on Ken, though Anna and Lloyd also felt it. As the kids struggled to heal themselves as Giygas continued.

"Go home now!" Giygas warned, "Or perish with the rest of these ugly Earthling!" Again, Giygas' inexplicable psychic attack focused more on Ken, while the party continued self healing, still on the defensive.

"Foolish one." Giygas continued, almost laughing, "You cannot do a thing with your meager powers…" if the kids didn't know any better, they could've sworn that Giygas was smiling as it looked down on their bloody, breaking bodies. Though, with the way its face was built, you couldn't really tell whether it was or not. "Powers worthy of a lowly insect!" Giygas continued, letting loose another of its attacks of inexplicable psychic force. Still, the children managed to survive, healing themselves any way they could, either by psychic powers or a miracle balm.

"Ken! You alone, I may save." Giygas bellowed, trying to tempt the young hero, "I may save you, and you alone." Extending its outstretched needle-like hand, "Come… board our Mother Ship with me."

"Never!" Ken immediately replied, making his decision without a second thought. If he could, he would've spat in Giygas' face.

"Very well…" Giygas replied, enraged as it shot off another of its near-fatal psychic attacks, while Anna restored part of the entire team's fighting will with her own psychic powers. "…then, fall into a long sleep - to die along with your friends and these other ugly Earthlings!" Again, Giygas continued its most powerful onslaught of inexplicably powerful psychic attack. Still, the group continued to hang in there - healing yet again, always on the defensive.

"There has to be a way to stop him!" Anna said, almost ready to give up.

"Hang in there, guys!" Ken said.

"I don't know if I can…" Lloyd replied.

However, almost as if by divine intervention, or a dying hallucination, unaware to Giygas, a bright, shining light appeared before them like a vision of hope - Teddy, dressed in an all-white variation of his trademark outfit, appeared before his ailing friends.

"Guys, listen to me!" he said, in a voice that could only be heard by his three friends, "Remember what Maria said. He couldn't stand it when she sang him that lullaby." The non-verbal look on their faces said they understood. "Obviously, that song won't kill him, but it'll sure as Hell drive that son of a bitch insane!"

"It's worth a shot!" Ken said, barely audible, however Anna and Lloyd both clearly heard him.

"That's the sprit!" Teddy said, smiling, "Now, go get 'im, guys!" as he returned to the afterlife.

With that, Ken wearily staggered to his feet, much to Giygas' curiosity, Ken started singing…

…_~"Take A Melody"~…_

If it could be discerned, the look on Giygas' face spoke volumes.

"Stop singing!" Giygas bellowed, firing off another of his psychic attacks - however, it was almost futile…

…_~"Simple As Can Be"~…_

…Anna chimed in, making Giygas start to cringe.

"**Stop** Singing!" Giygas bellowed further, doing everything in its power to make these kids stop.

…_~"Give It Some Voice"~…_

…Lloyd joined the small chorus, completing the trio in song.

"**Stop!**" Giygas bellowed, cringing, "Stop that singing!" Again, Giygas fired off another psychic blast, though they were starting to grow progressively weaker.

…_~"And Sweet Harmony"~…_

With that, each one started in together…

"**Stop It! Stop That Song!**" Giygas yelled, starting to show that the song was taking effect.

"It's working, guys…" Anna said, taking a slight break into the song.

"Then keep going." Ken replied as he and his friends continued singing.

…_~"Raise Your Voices"~…_

"You puny little Earth bugs!" Giygas swore, "Shut up, and **Stop Singing!**"

…_~"All Day Long, Now"~…_

"That song…" Giygas said, starting to weaken further into insanity.

…_~"Love Grows Strong, Now"~…_

"**Stop It!**" Giygas began pleading, but to no avail - even his psychic attacks were beginning to fade in strength.

…_~"Sing A Melody Of Love"~…_

With that, Giygas started showing physical pain from the song's effects.

…_~"Take A Melody"~…_

…_~"Simple As Can Be"~…_

The trio starts to sing the song again, from the beginning, as Giygas was starting to become noticibly weaker and weaker by the verse.

"Stop…" Giygas pleaded, "…pleeease, stop!" Now, Giygas was almost in tears. However, the kids continued with their harmonious onslaught attack…

…_~"Give It Some Voice"~…_

…_~"And Sweet Harmony"~…_

Again, Giygas tried attacking, but by now, it was almost pointless…

Roaring in agony, the kids continued…

…_~"Raise Your Voices"~…_

…_~"All Day Long, Now"~…_

…_~"Love Grows Strong, Now"~…_

…_~"Sing A Melody Of Love"~…_

"… … … …" Giygas struggled to breath, before roaring, "How can I be defeated by a song like that?" Giygas weakly asked, "I will… return… one day… Ken. We _shall_ meet again!" And with that, the cockpit closed as Giygas' ship blasted off to the stars. The battle was finally over - at least for the moment…

"…We did it…" Ken said, stunned at the sight of Giygas' escaping Mother Ship.

Suddenly, the trio burst out, whooping, hollering and celebrating their greatest victory with a renewed fever.

As the trio did their little 'victory dance,' Anna and Ken spontaneously grabbed hold of one another in an impromptu, and unconscious embrace. Discovering they were in this "situation" they (temporarily) stopped their celebrating, starring at each other in a stunned and embarrassingly shocking silence.

"Uh…" Ken stammers, suddenly avoiding her gaze to clear his throat, "We'll have to free those trapped adults…"

"Oh… that's right." Anna said, "Mommy's one of them…" rushing off, "Guys! Come on!"

After Lloyd looked at Ken, as if saying "You fool! You could've gotten lucky…" as he and Ken followed Anna back to the chamber.

Emerging from the caves of Mt. Itoi, Anna was finally reunited with her mother as the rest of the kidnapped Earthlings were freed as the entire adult population of Youngtown were finally reunited with their lonely children, who were more than overjoyed to have their parents back.

Back in Ellay, Teddy was given a hero's funeral. While the remaining members of the Black Blood Gang, without Teddy's leadership, shortly disbanded, only to be rounded up by the newly regrouped Ellay Police Force. The young heroes pleaded their late friend's case, on the grounds that since Teddy gave his life to save theirs, he should at least deserve _some_ form of leniency for his crimes, while Ken and Anna sealed the deal with their unique form of 'mental persuasion' as Teddy was issued a full and unconditional pardon for his past crimes. With his name finally cleared, Teddy could truly rest in peace knowing that his and his parents' deaths have finally been properly avenged.

Meanwhile, back in Snowman, the gang finally starts to say their final goodbyes as they left Anna behind.

"I promise I won't forget you, so I won't say goodbye." Anna said, hugging Ken, "Just-" finally kissing him, "Until we meet again." She leaves him standing outside as she enters her chapel home, but not without stealing one last sorrowful glance at her two closest, and lifelong friends.

"Come on, Casanova." Lloyd said, dragging a catatonic Ken along, "The sooner we leave, the better."

"Yeah, I guess…" Ken replied, looking back.

As for Lloyd, he and his father returned to Merrysville to a hero's welcome. While at Twinkle Elementary School, Lloyd was no longer picked on and called degrading names by his classmates - he now, finally, had the respect he (along with everyone else) so rightfully deserves.

"Stay cool, Lloyd." Ken said, getting ready to teleport home, "And, please… promise me you'll stop hiding in trashcans!"

Laughing, Lloyd replied, "I promise, Ken." as he smiled and waved into the distance as Ken zoomed out of sight.

Returning home, alone, Ken was glad to see his mother and sisters eagerly waiting for him at the door to finally return. Machoness aside, Ken dropped what he was carrying and ran into their collective embrace.

"Ken," his mother said, "your sisters and I are so happy to see you back in one piece."

"You don't know the half of it, Mom." Ken said, almost in tears, grateful to finally be home.

"It's unbelievable that you're not hungry." she said, looking him over as all four of them (along with Mick the dog) went inside.

After dinner that evening, where he was treated to his mother's grilled steak, Ken, dressed in his most comfortable pair of pajamas, rests in his own bed for the first time in (what felt like) forever…

"Well," he tells himself, "Now that the Earth's crisis is over, I think I'll just lay down for a moment and *zzzzzz*" It didn't take a second to fall asleep after his head hit the pillow…

**SNOWMAN**

…_a week later…_

At the Snowman Chateau, Mrs. Thompson (who has already returned to her role as a minister's wife) walks in with the daily mail, shifting through the envelops until she finds a letter addressed to their daughter.

"Anna, dear!" her mother calls up the stairs to their "penthouse parsonage." (the attic of the chateau chapel converted into a small two-bedroom apartment - blocked off by a lone door marked "Private" - which was often only closed at night and during the Sunday Services.)

"Yes, Mother?" she asked, heading downstairs.

"You have mail." she said, handing her a single letter. Noticing a huge smile on her face, she asks, "Well, don't leave me in suspense, Dear. Who's it from? Yoshie?"

"No! It's from Ken!" Anna said, beaming.

"Isn't he that boy…?" her mother asked.

"Yes!" Anna replied, swooning, "Oh, Mom, I miss him so much. I hope we can get together again." She runs upstairs to her bedroom in a half-dreamlike state of mind.

"Ah… young love." her mother said, before continuing with the church's housework.

**AREA UNKNOWN**

…_another week later…_

A middle-aged man, hunched over a payphone to the point where, looking at him from behind, you could only see his dark brown trench coat, fedora, the leg cuffs of his dark trousers and his shined, buffed dress shoes, as he holds an overstuffed briefcase in his right hand and the payphone's receiver close to his ear with his left. Dismayed, all he hears over the phone was a seemingly endless ringing…

"I know that boy's home." the man said in a hushed tone, "Come on, Son and answer the phone!" he silently pleaded, "Something new has come up, and…"

_THE (LIVING) END…?_


End file.
